Kemi Badenoch enters her first Conservative party conference as leader with the Tories in a worse position than a year ago, according to a Guardian editorial. The party's opinion poll rating is consistently lower than the 23.7% achieved under Rishi Sunak in the general election. One MP has defected to Reform UK, and more may follow if they see no path back to power under Badenoch.
The editorial argues that Badenoch has adopted a shallow, ideologically blinkered analysis of the party's unpopularity. She claims the Tories 'talked right but governed left,' a revisionist view that ignores austerity, hard Brexit, draconian immigration laws, and Liz Truss's tax-cutting mini-budget. The piece contends that this warped lens leads to strategic misjudgments, such as failing to understand why the Liberal Democrats won seats in affluent southern heartlands.
Badenoch's policy choices are also criticised. The announcement to repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act is described as a retreat from climate leadership, aligning with Reform UK and Donald Trump's Maga movement. Threatening to quit the European Convention on Human Rights is seen as reckless posturing that trades legal stability for nationalist applause.
The editorial notes that shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick strikes anti-immigrant postures crossing into aggressive nationalism, angling to replace Badenoch. It concludes that she needs a credible plan to give her party purpose, but her record suggests this is unlikely.
