Kemi Badenoch has ruled out a pact with Reform as she warned a "fight is coming" over public spending in her keynote speech to Conservative party conference.
Taking aim at Reform, she told the conference hall: "I remember back in the day when Ian Wright and John Barnes were playing. Nobody was questioning whether they were English. We certainly didn't have sitting MPs questioning whether they were English."
"We must not let these people take us backwards. That is not the country we are. Reform MPs are openly questioning people's identity."
Reform voters 'are our people'
Badenoch insisted she will never unite with Nigel Farage's party, saying: "Farage’s fishy £5m personal gift. Has anyone here ever received a £5m pound gift? I haven’t."
"Just when you think Reform couldn’t get any weirder, there’s a convicted fraudster who calls himself 'Posh George' and calls Nigel Farage 'Daddy'. The circus goes on and on, and it will never stop because this is who Reform politicians are."
She added: "Reform voters are our people. We let them down and we want them to come back home."
Attack on Labour and tax plans
Badenoch spent much of the speech targeting the Labour government, who she admitted "believe that what they are doing is compassionate". She said: "But we know that these ideas will make every single person in this country poorer."
"Your taxes will be higher, your bills will go up, you’ll find it harder and harder to make ends meet. Just because these ideas are delivered on TikTok doesn’t make them any less dangerous than they have always been."
She also compared the Tories to Marks & Spencer, saying critics said they were "a bit stuffy, and stuck in the past" and questioned whether they could survive, before asking: "Do you see where I'm going with this, conference?"
Ready for election
Badenoch insisted the party is ready for an election, saying: "I want us to win in three years’ time. To be honest, I want us to win next week. We are ready for an election whenever it’s called because we are the only party that understands what has gone wrong in Britain and knows how to put it right."
She also took aim at her former leadership rival Robert Jenrick, saying the Conservatives have had an "export boom of drama queens going to Reform".
The Tory leader was mocked after a gaffe over her party's so-called Iron Dome announcement and was criticised over "fantasy economics" after unveiling plans to halve employers' national insurance on jobs worked by young people. The speech came after Reform UK was branded "too nasty for the nasty party".
