Kemi Badenoch's 'kemikaze' mission to outflank Reform can clearly be seen as the fraud it is. How can anyone take seriously a Tory party which allegedly blocks people from standing as candidates if they back net zero or the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)? Fourteen years guys! Fourteen years the Tories were in power. Fourteen years to leave the ECHR or get a grip on mass migration – and it was Theresa May who made net zero legally binding. Who in their right mind believes this hooey now?
Outflanking Reform falls flat
So when, for example, Badenoch says she will throw all foreigners out of council houses after six months, her attempt to outflank Reform falls flat on its face. Reform already promised this and to do so after three months. If voters want this type of thing why not simply vote for Reform? And, unlike the Tories, Nigel Farage doesn't have a woeful track record of failure to defend on mass immigration. A track record for a government which Badenoch was right at the heart of!
Yes, so were Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman. But they had the courage to openly admit it would be wrong to stay with the toxic Tories and defected to Farage's Reform. If Badenoch's pitch is that Reform lacks a track record in office, then, a) Jenrick and Braverman were senior ranking ministers and bring that experience, and, b) as a party, if your track record is as woeful as the Conservatives, then it probably isn't worth citing at all.
Kamikaze mission
Kemi's is a kamikaze mission: it risks alienating the 'blue wall' Lib Dem waverers while never winning over Reformers. Voters want the real deal. Not a pale imitation. Sorry Kemi, but you simply cannot out-Reform Reform! And, by the way, voters don't have collective amnesia. They remember the Boriswave, a botched Brexit and a failure to reform IR35 rules for contractors.
Only Lord Ashcroft's polls have the Tories in second because clearly they are slanted towards the Conservatives. No other pollster has the Tories anywhere but third, even with the 'Burnham bounce'. Calling Reform "woke" just makes you look desperate. Plus you cannot be forgiven so easily for nearly a decade and a half of failure and misery.
Hypocrisy not brushed under the rug
Your hypocrisy as a party is not so easily brushed under the rug. And saying all councillors do is spend their time "looking at parking and sorting out bins" is hardly the best way to win friends and influence people. You may retain the loyalty of a narrow band of diehards. The rest of us gave up on you a very long time ago.
