Tories to launch two-year election campaign in May, says Oliver Dowden

Conservatives have been told to fight a two-year general election campaign, starting with local polls in May.

Party chairman Oliver Dowden warned activists to expect a far tougher fight that at the 2019 general election, which resulted in a landslide.

In a speech to the party's spring conference in Blackpool, he said it would be a "seat-by-seat" battle.

Many Tories are braced for losses at 5 May's local elections, after a turbulent period for the party.

Labour will be hoping to convert national opinion poll leads into gains on the ground, although they have been playing down expectations of a dramatic breakthrough.

The Liberal Democrats are also in confident mood, after winning Westminster by-elections in Tory heartlands.

The next general election is due in 2024, but there has been speculation Boris Johnson will go to the country earlier, as his government pushes ahead with plans to scrap the Fixed Term Parliaments Act.

But Mr Dowden said the Conservatives would begin "our two-year election campaign" in May, with the launch of a target-seat strategy.

And he warned activists the next election would be more like 2015, when David Cameron won a 12-seat majority, than 2019, when Boris Johnson romped home with an 80-seat majority.

"Of course we face a tough path through the locals and onto the next general election," he said.

"We will be seeking a fifth Conservative win. A feat never achieved before. And the challenge starts this May."

The prime minister will decide when to call an election, not his party chairman.

But Oliver Dowden's choice of words - spelling out specifically a two-year general election campaign - was deliberate.

The working assumption at Conservative HQ is that there will be no early election.

And the hope is that by 2024, the worst of the cost of living crisis will be over, and that "partygate" will be a distant memory.

His warning that the next election will be more like 2015 than 2019 was a call for the party faithful not to be complacent.

The last election was essentially fought on the same policy platform across the country - Get Brexit Done.

Now the Conservatives will have to take to the doorsteps, with tailored messages to convince those who "lent" their votes to the party that the government has made a tangible difference in their area.

Although the Conservatives had been in power since 2010, Boris Johnson was able to harness the desire for change last time round.

He is now very much the incumbent - weighed down with heavy political baggage, and up against a different Labour leader.

So the activists gathered at the seaside in Blackpool were being told that an early poll isn't on the horizon.

Mr Dowden said he was "re-opening the candidates list for the next general election with a big open call for candidates", calling for people with "wide-ranging life experiences" to put themselves forward.

He said: "Our candidates must reflect the new Conservative party: the party of Darlington and Doncaster, as much as Devon and Dorset."

The party chairman confirmed he had appointed a director of campaigning and "more than a dozen" campaign managers, as well as opening a new head office in Leeds.

Council elections are being held in England, Scotland and Wales on 5 May, along with Northern Ireland Assembly elections.

England will also see combined authority mayoral elections and local authority mayoral elections.