No Conservative leader in history has inherited a more formidable challenge than Kemi Badenoch. The task of reconstructing a party shattered by the catastrophic 2024 election defeat, while fending off the surging threat from Reform UK, would daunt even the most seasoned politician. Yet, against these odds, Mrs Badenoch has not only stabilised the Conservative ship but also overseen a notable recovery in both her personal popularity and that of her party, decisively seeing off internal rival Robert Jenrick in the process.
A Serious Leader for Serious Times
At this critical juncture, with the party finally securing a serious leader for serious times, a self-appointed cabal from the Left wing has emerged to announce its intention to drag the Conservatives back to the failures and psychodrama of the past. As Mrs Badenoch battles to rebuild her policy platform and party organisation from the ground up, the last thing she requires is meddling from self-styled centrists – those whom Margaret Thatcher once dismissively labelled as the Wets.
The Return of the Remainers
This new group, expensively rebranded as Prosper UK and led by former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson and ex-West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, includes relics from that damp era, such as Ken Clarke and Michael Heseltine. Their moniker, a feeble echo of Nigel Farage’s outfit, sounds preposterous given their record. For if anything undermined Britain’s prosperity during the last government, it was their bid to sabotage Brexit.
Make no mistake: this is the return of the Remainers. Unlike every single Prosper supporter named on their website, Mrs Badenoch voted Leave – and they have not forgiven her. Among this band of Europhiles are many who inflicted significant harm on the Tory cause. The two vice-chairs are David Gauke, expelled in 2019 for trying to stop Brexit, and Amber Rudd, who resigned the whip in sympathy. Neither exemplifies party loyalty.
A Cackhanded Attempt at Destabilisation
Other keen supporters include Lord Gavin Barwell, Theresa May’s chief of staff during the disastrous 2017 election, Matt Hancock, the hands-on health secretary during the Covid pandemic, and Alan Duncan, the Israel-critical former Foreign Office minister. While these retreads insist they wish Mrs Badenoch well, Prosper UK appears as a cackhanded attempt to destabilise her leadership.
One defining theme of Mrs Badenoch’s leadership is her zero-tolerance approach to factionalism. When the public reflects on what they disliked most about fourteen years of Tory rule, they invariably point to the infighting, backstabbing, and ego-tripping of a party that turned in on itself, forgetting the country. While Labour is consumed by witch-hunts and identity politics, the Conservatives have often succumbed to sheer old-fashioned vanity.
Steely Discipline and Parliamentary Gains
Mrs Badenoch has decisively said goodbye to all that, as demonstrated by her steely decision to jettison Jenrick this month. Her Shadow Cabinet has, on the whole, been tightly disciplined, achieving considerable gains in Opposition. Most recently, through shrewd parliamentary guerrilla warfare, they stalled the disastrous Chagos Islands Bill.
Now, however, the centrists threaten to plunge the Tory party back into a death spiral, where the only winners would be Nigel Farage and Sir Keir Starmer. What exactly is Prosper UK for? If genuinely aiming to assist Mrs Badenoch, one would expect them to engage in humdrum activities like canvassing for Conservative candidates or raising funds for the May council elections.
Vague Claims and Electoral Suicide
Instead, spokesmen Street and Davidson remain notably silent on such matters, claiming to speak for ‘millions’ of ‘neglected’ voters who feel ‘unrepresented’ by the present Tory party. So, what do these omniscient voices of the Tepid Tendency propose should change? Getting tough on migration, for a start. Mr Street suggests toning down some of the rhetoric that has been necessary over the past eighteen months.
Does he intend to ditch Mrs Badenoch’s bold yet carefully constructed policy to reduce net migration, which includes the UK leaving the European Court of Human Rights? Has he lost touch with his former constituents in the West Midlands? Why does he suppose so many Conservative voters deserted the party for Reform at the last general election?
Migration: The Salient Issue
Ms Davidson offers an answer, arguing that by getting tough on migration, Mrs Badenoch has borrowed Mr Farage’s clothes to appear as a Reform-lite, making the Tories ‘suddenly look inauthentic’. Really, Ruth? Is that why the Conservatives recently overtook Labour in the polls for the first time since their election wipeout? More likely, ordinary ‘small-c’ conservatives have noticed that the party they voted for in 2019 once again advocates sensible policies and are beginning to return.
Migration, the issue most salient in the electorate’s minds, is precisely what the political geniuses of Prosper UK would have the Conservatives ‘tone down’ to avoid looking ‘inauthentic’. This sounds like a recipe for electoral suicide. Both Labour and Reform incessantly repeat their mantra that the Conservative Party is dying. That is not happening – not on Kemi’s watch. But if she heeds the Street-Davidson diagnosis, the Tories might as well give up the ghost.
Policy Vacuum and Leadership Strength
What does Prosper UK propose the Tories discuss instead of migration? The economy? Mrs Badenoch already owns that territory, with a recent YouGov poll showing the Conservatives nine points ahead of both Labour and Reform. Perhaps they have something distinctive to say about economic policy? Mr Street, a businessman who once ran John Lewis, advocates tax reforms to incentivise work and enterprise.
Well, Kemi’s Shadow Treasury team, led by Mel Stride, has produced numerous concrete ideas on how to achieve precisely that. It is not enough merely to reform taxes; the Tories must also demonstrate how to cut them. Thus far, Prosper UK has offered nothing comparable. Former ministers, mayors, and MPs can feed ideas into the policymaking process without the divisive noise about One Nation.
Striking Omissions and Critical Needs
Most striking is not what these new centrists say, but what they omit. They have nothing to say about cutting welfare numbers – a task that defeated the Tories in government – or its cost. Yet Mrs Badenoch’s team has identified £47 billion in cuts and a programme to get people out of what she terms Benefits Street.
Nor does the Tepid Tendency address rebuilding our armed forces. Latest opinion polls reveal that, for the first time, the public is as worried about defence as about the NHS, alarmed by global events over the past month. Again, Mrs Badenoch has been ahead of the game, calling on the Government to raise defence expenditure by £28 billion – the sum Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the Chief of the Defence Staff, has told the Prime Minister is urgently needed.
The Call for Loyalty
The Conservative leader does not require half-baked advice from superannuated centrists. What she needs, from right across the party, is loyalty. Once upon a time, that was the Tories’ secret weapon. Under Kemi Badenoch, it could yet become the secret of success again.
