Badenoch ‘rebuilding’ Tories as she marks a year as leader, she says
Kemi Badenoch has said she is “rebuilding” the Conservative Party, as she marks her first year as Tory leader.
Badenoch’s first anniversary since taking over as Tory leader is on Sunday, November 2.
She came to the helm of the Conservative Party after a leadership contest triggered by Rishi Sunak’s resignation in the wake of the 2024 general election drubbing.
Over the last year, Badenoch has slowly started to craft a new policy platform for her Conservative Party, but has been criticised by anonymous MPs disappointed the Tories do not appear to be cutting through with voters, as Reform UK continues to occupy a similar political territory.
Despite the current political headwinds, Badenoch appeared adamant in her approach.
She said: “This first year of my leadership has been about rebuilding. Rebuilding our party, our principles and our plan for Britain.
“After defeat in 2024, we faced a choice: retreat into slogans, or rebuild around values. We chose to rebuild.
“The Conservative Party now stands once again for what made Britain strong in the first place – responsibility, fairness, competence and pride in our nation.”
She also pointed to the large number of donations the party had received over the last year, an area where it has outperformed its political rivals.
“At the same time as we rebuild, we have stayed united, raised more money than the other parties combined and exposed the hypocrisy of Labour’s behaviour and the weakness of their policies, forcing U-turns on winter fuel payments, grooming gangs and welfare cuts,” Mrs Badenoch said.
She added: “I’ve spent this year giving the country a serious alternative to Labour’s weakness: a plan for a stronger economy and stronger borders.
“The Conservatives have set out detailed, costed policies to cut waste, lower taxes, control immigration and reward work. We’ve shown how to fix welfare, stop the boats, cut energy bills and make work pay again.”
Despite her insistence the party is providing a credible alternative to the Labour Government, the latest polling from YouGov suggested voters are yet to be convinced by Badenoch: 12 per cent believe she is a prime minister in waiting, while 62 per cent do not.
A majority of Conservative members, 54 per cent, do however believe she is doing a good job as party leader, while 24 per cent say she has done a bad job, according to the survey of 2,136 British adults carried out between October 28 and 29.
Pollsters have also suggested the Tories are less popular than the Lib Dems, as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK continues to lead with the public.
While some ex-Conservatives, including sitting MP Danny Kruger, have defected to Reform, others have anonymously voiced concerns to the media about Mrs Badenoch’s leadership.
She has previously suggested she will not pay attention to attempts at “regicide”, especially from MPs who are not willing to put a name to their criticisms.
But backbench Tories could soon hold Badenoch’s future in their hands, as a grace period preventing them from submitting letters expressing no confidence in her expires once her first year in office is complete.
Bob Blackman, who as chairman of the 1922 Committee acts as a conduit for Conservative backbenchers, told the PA news agency he believed Mrs Badenoch’s slow and steady approach had been the correct one.
He also suggested backbenchers should come to him before airing grievances in public, telling the PA news agency: “When people have got a concern, if they raise it with us then we will raise it with both the chief whip and with the leader where appropriate, but do so in private, which is the right way to do it.
“It is a case of, in my view, don’t whinge and moan, and certainly don’t do it in public, because that doesn’t do anyone any good.”
Badenoch has “gone through a learning curve” over the last year, Blackman acknowledged, but praised her improved performance at Prime Minister’s Questions, which he said demonstrated she was “getting well prepared and ready to actually hold the Prime Minister to account”.
Badenoch also continues to face the challenge of ambitious frontbenchers who appear to be plotting potential future leadership bids.
These include shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, who has been building a platform and voice of his own on social media, and shadow Home Office minister Katie Lam.
Lam has denied any involvement with a “Lam for Leader” website recently registered online.
Labour said that “one year in, Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives have shown themselves incapable of change or learning lessons from the past.”
Party chairwoman Anna Turley said: ““They crashed the economy, sent mortgages rocketing and left NHS waiting lists at record highs.”
She added: “The Tories simply aren’t serious, and they’ve learned no lessons from their 14 years in power.
“Working people paid the price of their failure and they would again.”
By David Lynch, PA Political Correspondent