Meet the young Conservatives fighting to change their party

It’s not every day you bump into a Churchill at the Conservative Party conference.

Henry Churchill, a 17-year-old distant relative of the former prime minister Sir Winston, is a member of another rare group – young Conservative supporters.

There are plenty of them here in Birmingham, of course, but Henry thinks there should be more.

He is calling on the party to “tap into” the growing right-wing youth movements in Europe.

Compared to a rightward swing among young voters in Italy, Germany, Austria and Spain, there is an apathy for the Conservatives among his peer group.

In the UK “most people my age are either voting for Reform or Labour”, says Henry, who is Sir Winston’s fifth cousin four times removed.

He says his contemporaries believe the Tory Party is “filled with a bunch of old people trying to make themselves richer”.

But they’re wrong, Henry argues.

“The Conservatives can offer people better opportunities to get on and get out into the world – get a good job and start earning money.”