During a quick-fire Q&A at the Conservative party conference this weekend, Kemi Badenoch was asked who she would pick between Robert Jenrick or Suella Braverman. It’s like asking if I’d rather be shot or drowned,” the Tory leader responded with her trademark directness. The Tories appear more united than they have done in years.
Part of that is because they have a common enemy to unite against: Tory defectors. It is not lost on Badenoch’s team that this time last year, it was a matter of when, not if, Jenrick, her erstwhile leadership rival, would try to oust her. Mutinous Tory MPs were privately predicting her demise.
But after a successful conference, Badenoch limped on – and Jenrick emerged a diminished figure who weeks later would be kicked out of the party. His presence, however, lives on, with shadow ministers openly sharing their relief that he is no longer among their number. But while the unity comes, in part, from a mutual dislike, there are of course other factors: Badenoch’s strength as a leader; the country’s yearning for stability; the constant threat of Reform UK to the party’s right.
Badenoch has been running the show for almost two years – the longest serving Tory leader since Boris Johnson – and has begun to set out her principles, writing a 30,000 word pamphlet titled The Right Way before the conference. Tory MPs also seem to have finally realised that voters take a dim view of the party cycling through leaders at such breakneck speed, with five in the past eight years. Nigel Farage’s woes have also given them reason for hope: while the Reform leader believes his party will recover from a difficult summer, some Tory MPs are confident that his party has peaked.
Other party insiders – possibly more plugged into what is going on in their constituencies – concede that Farage still represents a huge threat. They are among those concerned about Badenoch pitching to the right. Instead, they say that she needs to do more to win over centrist voters for the party to stand a chance of winning another election.
Part of that is by focusing more on the economy and less on culture wars. But we do have to be careful with our language,” one MP said. Another added: “That’s not Kemi’s instinct.
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