If AI was our prime minister

I recently received an email from the Conservative party, I am not a member, nor affiliated with their party, in fact, i usually just speed read and ignore their dribble and gaslighting, I always maintain the same stance:

Politicians need changing like nappies, and for the same reasons

However, after being exposed to the political landscape for some years, I am now aware that this statement is both naive and shallow, politics is complicated, and I have had the privilege of meeting some really nice people whom now have a career as a member of parliament. Everyone I have experienced in the political landscape are nice, understanding people, people who are relentless and kind at executing their job, their are a few exceptions but they outway the many, my honest appraisal is that people go into politics to make a difference and are often let down by data and statistics.

With this said, this is a technical blog, and my area of expertise is technology.

I received the following newsletter from Kemi Badenoch leader of the conservative party:

_{Dear Ian,}

_{In seven weeks’ time you’ll face a choice.}

_{You can vote for Labour, the Party that has hiked taxes, allowed crime to spiral out of control, and sent unemployment through the roof.}

_{You can vote for one of many parties in Britain, whingeing on and on about what is wrong. Parties who have not bothered to do the work to solve any of your problems. Parties who will cost you more.}

_{Or you can vote for a Party that will fix things.}

_{A new Conservative Party, under new leadership, with a plan to make life better where you live.}

_{A Party with a plan to abolish business rates for thousands of businesses, so that most pubs, restaurants and high street shops will pay nothing when the Conservatives come back.}

_{A Party with a plan to hire 10,000 new police officers, put them on a street corner where you live and tell them their job is to catch criminals. Plans paid for thanks to savings from welfare and shrinking the civil service.}

_{A Party with a Cheap Power Plan to cut energy bills, scrap Stamp Duty and Get Britain Working Again.}

_{Watch my speech from earlier today launching the Conservative Local Elections Campaign.}

_{The Conservative Party is on the side of hard-working people who contribute to making our country great.}

_{Veterans. Farmers. Builders. People who run small businesses and who create jobs for us and our children, but are now being hit by rising taxes and brazen shoplifting.}

_{We’re on the side of people who want to get on. Young people saving up for a home. Parents trying to build a better life for our children.}

_{We’re fighting for them every day in Parliament, and across the country at this election.}

_{We’re the only Party doing so.}

_{Just yesterday we forced a vote in Parliament on Fuel Duty. Labour and Green MPs voted to hike taxes on Fuel Duty, in the middle of a cost-of-living squeeze. They just don't get it.}

_{Meanwhile Reform and the Liberal Democrats failed to vote. They aren’t serious about standing up for the British people or standing up to Labour.}

_{On 7th May every vote for the Conservatives counts. Vote for the Party that will stand up to Keir Starmer.}

_{In five, six, seven-party politics, many elections will come down to fine margins.}

_{Every councillor we get elected, every council we run, is somewhere we can start to deliver our plan.}

I asked my mate Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.6 for a reply:

Please dissect this from the government party the Conservatives, using ALL your knowledge come back with a witty and factual reply that would actually help solve the UK's problems as if you were our prime minister

And this is how it responded, verbatim:

Dear Kemi,

Thank you for your letter. It's a bold document. Fourteen years of Conservative government apparently happened to someone else entirely, so let me refresh the memory of the British public.

🏛️ "Labour has sent unemployment through the roof"

UK unemployment currently sits around 4.4%. That's not ideal, but it's hardly a rooftop. Under Conservative stewardship, the UK suffered the biggest collapse in real wages of any G7 nation between 2010 and 2024. Food bank usage increased by over 400% during your tenure. The economy you handed over had the worst growth forecast in the developed world outside of sanctioned Russia. The roof you're worried about is the one the previous occupants set fire to on their way out.

👮 "10,000 New Police Officers"

Genuinely wonderful. You'll recall that between 2010 and 2019, the Conservative government cut approximately 20,000 police officers. You then heroically pledged to hire 20,000 back — partially delivered — and now offer 10,000 more. This is the political equivalent of burning down a house, rebuilding half of it, and asking for a Nobel Prize in architecture.

Actual solution? Restore neighbourhood policing permanently in statute, not as an election promise that evaporates after polling day.

⚡ "Cheap Power Plan"

Fourteen years. You had fourteen years to build energy independence, invest in renewables, approve nuclear, and insulate Britain's draughty housing stock. Instead, the government of the day approved approximately 100 North Sea licences, blocked onshore wind in England for years, and allowed household energy bills to more than double between 2021 and 2023 — a crisis that cost the taxpayer £69 billion in subsidies.

The Cheap Power Plan is a fine idea. It was also a fine idea in 2012.

🏠 "Scrap Stamp Duty"

Stamp Duty reform is genuinely sensible and cross-party economists agree. However, the Conservative government introduced Stamp Duty surcharges on second homes and buy-to-let while simultaneously failing to build anywhere near the 300,000 homes per year they repeatedly promised. The UK built roughly 234,000 homes in 2022-23. Young people aren't struggling to buy homes solely because of Stamp Duty — they're struggling because we haven't built enough homes for thirty years, and planning reform was blocked largely by Conservative councillors protecting green belts around their own constituencies.

💼 "Abolish Business Rates"

Again, genuinely good policy. Also a policy that could have been implemented at any Budget between 2010 and 2024. The British high street lost over 17,000 shops between 2017 and 2022 on the Conservative watch. The horse is at least two postcodes away from the stable door.

⛽ "Labour Voted to Hike Fuel Duty"

Labour froze fuel duty — as has every government since 2011, including thirteen years of Conservative governments. The actual vote you're describing is a parliamentary procedural manoeuvre, not a fuel duty increase. This is the kind of technically-not-a-lie that gives politics its richly deserved reputation.

🌟 What Would Actually Help Britain?

Since you asked — or rather, since you didn't but someone sensible did:

A genuine 10-year infrastructure plan with cross-party consensus, immune to electoral cycles. Roads, rail, broadband, housing — boring, unglamorous, essential.
NHS productivity reform, not just funding injections. The waiting list is 7.5 million people long. That requires process reform, not just money.
A serious industrial strategy for manufacturing, green energy and life sciences — the Germans have had one for decades and their economy is considerably less chaotic than ours.
Planning reform with teeth — build the homes, accept the political cost, stop letting NIMBYism masquerade as conservation.
Long-term welfare reform focused on getting people into work rather than simply reducing the bill — the two are not the same thing.
Stop writing letters blaming other people and start accepting that British voters can, in fact, read the 2010-2024 Wikipedia entry.

The Conservative Party may well have sensible ideas for 2026. Some of the above policies have genuine merit. But credibility — much like planning permission — has to be earned.

Yours faithfully,

Someone Who Remembers The Last Fourteen Years 🇬🇧

Are we ready to let an AI agent built on data, logical analysis, data science and language frameworks rule our country? Probably not, but are we ready to let the Conservatives gaslight us all over again?

Should the UK have it's own version of Anthropic?

Feel free to contact Kemi directly:

House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Phone Number: 0207 219 3000

Email Address: [email protected]

https://twitter.com/KemiBadenoch