{"id":293179,"date":"2025-12-01T14:56:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T14:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/293179\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T14:56:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T14:56:04","slug":"if-kemi-badenoch-carries-on-like-this-shell-be-elected-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/293179\/","title":{"rendered":"If Kemi Badenoch carries on like this she\u2019ll be elected prime minister"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is a good time to be Kemi Badenoch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Serious as the subject is, the leader of the Conservatives<\/a> is clearly enjoying taking on Rachel Reeves over alleged fudged numbers<\/a> and broken promises in the wake of the Budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At a particularly punchy news conference in the City on Monday morning, Badenoch hit out hard at the \u201cfalse information\u201d the chancellor had appeared to give<\/a> \u201cdeliberately\u201d in order to get her Budget a \u201csoft landing\u201d \u2013 a deeply sobering charge that has seen Badenoch\u2019s party call for the UK\u2019s financial regulator to investigate \u201cpossible market abuse\u201d by people working in the Treasury and Downing Street<\/a> in the run-up to the Budget. \u201cIf a chief executive had done this, they\u2019d have been sacked,\u201d Badenoch said.<\/p>\n

As usual, she has a point \u2013 which is not something you can say of the woman in her sights. Walking past the saccharine paint-by-numbers art of the traditional screevers along Hyde Park this weekend reminded me of our chancellor\u2019s weaker waffle in the lead-up to her Budget.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Kemi\u2019s<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

\u2018Kemi\u2019s blistering and bombastic riposte at the despatch box last Wednesday was both strikingly effective and proof she has finally found her footing\u2019 (PA)<\/p>\n

Despite months of chaos, Reeves stood and moralised to a nation to think of the \u201cpoor children\u201d as she launched \u00a326bn of tax rises<\/a> on hard-working families, many of whom are skirting just above poverty.<\/p>\n

Contrast that with Kemi\u2019s blistering and bombastic riposte at the despatch box<\/a> last Wednesday, which was both strikingly effective and proof that she has finally found her footing.<\/p>\n

\u201cA smorgasbord of misery\u201d<\/a> was one corker, but it was \u201ca Budget for Benefits Street<\/a> paid for by working people\u201d that really stuck. And when she turned to her MPs with the rallying cry, \u201cWhat have we got? Welfare spending \u2013 up! Universal credit claimants \u2013 up! Debt interest \u2013 up! Inflation \u2013 up! Growth \u2013 down! Business confidence \u2013 down!\u201d, you knew this moment had been expertly orchestrated to dominate social media clicks.<\/p>\n

There may be those of you who hate this level of hyperbolic rhetoric, consider it childish and view Badenoch\u2019s theatrics as a demonstration of the worst of Westminster, but hyperbole exists in politics for a reason \u2013 to achieve cut-through. It is no coincidence that Reform UK has slipped back in the polls, with a new poll for The i Paper suggesting the party\u2019s lead over the Conservatives is shrinking.<\/p>\n

The Conservatives have gained three points to hit their highest poll rating since March, which pollsters said could be the \u201cfirst shoots of recovery\u201d.<\/p>\n

And it is why you hear critics of this government, including many Labour stalwarts such as Ed Balls<\/a>, consistently questioning Keir Starmer\u2019s narrative and direction. Without a clear strategic vision shaped into a story voters can align with, delivered through concise, clippable lines, support drains fast.<\/p>\n

In a good economic climate, a government might just get by with this sort of politics by triangulation. Not when it\u2019s raising taxes. This government now looks buffeted by events, and in recent weeks has lurched into internecine chaos. The impression is of a leader \u2013 Starmer <\/a>\u2013 who is not in control but is controlled. Any hoped-for bounce in the polls from measures to ease the cost of living crisis<\/a> has been drowned by arguments over benefit bungs and whether the chancellor misrepresented the spending watchdog. Fifty-eight per cent of voters believe Reeves has broken her manifesto pledges on taxation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By contrast, Badenoch\u2019s profile continues to rise, having first had to deal with a bankrupt party haemorrhaging members. Where once her directness was seen as a negative, her pugilistic approach has now been honed by an experienced new team to land knockout blows. Straight after she finished mocking the chancellor for her moaning on \u201cmansplaining\u201d,<\/a> she was on LBC Radio, making no apologies for her \u201cpersonal attack\u201d and rolling out more effective punchlines, including, \u201cRachel Reeves<\/a> and Keir Starmer are using our money to save their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the BBC\u2019s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, despite a plucky defence from the puffy-faced chancellor<\/a>, Reeves\u2019s explanations were too complex; she was defensive compared to Badenoch\u2019s calm defiance. It is the Conservative framing of the post-Budget debate, including her calls for Reeves to resign over her \u201cmisleading\u201d of the public on the supposed black hole, that is sticking.<\/p>\n

\"Reeves<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Reeves and Badenoch have had contrasting fortunes since the Budget (Jeff Overs\/BBC\/PA)<\/p>\n

A post-Budget YouGov poll<\/a> said only 11 per cent think Reeves is doing a good job as chancellor, with 48 per cent saying the Budget was unfair (versus 21 per cent who saw it as fair). And overwhelmingly, people said this Budget would leave the country worse off. The last years of the Tories were marked by turmoil. The problem for this Labour government is that it promised to end that chaos. Rancorous party politics and depleting trust have led to 27 per cent of younger voters now claiming they would prefer an autocratic style of governing. I don\u2019t believe this actually equates to them yearning for a police state \u2013 but instead reveals a longing for strong, directional leadership.<\/p>\n

It is not surprising that alongside Badenoch\u2019s successful autumn, Wes Streeting<\/a> and the newly anointed home secretary Shabana Mahmood<\/a> are enjoying a surge in popularity. The similarities between the two are clear: highly effective communicators who underpin their arguments with a narrative the public can easily get onside with. Mahmood\u2019s defence of her major policy reforms on immigration was a masterclass in how to bring party and public with you. Her performance in the Commons was as punchy as anything we\u2019ve seen from Badenoch \u2013 including her use of the \u201cp-word\u201d. Their rhetorical skills are an acute threat to their leader because they expose Starmer\u2019s fustian leanings.<\/p>\n

Was this week a breakthrough moment for Badenoch? Within her own party \u2013 yes. And she dominated headlines over Nigel Farage<\/a> \u2013 which she consistently needs to \u2013 as he battles accusations of antisemitic bullying<\/a> from when he was in school. But Badenoch knows it\u2019s too soon to expect voters to trust the Conservatives again, and that is why she keeps talking up her role as leader of the opposition. The more immediate threat to Starmer may come not from her, but from the bombastic Labour orators on his own benches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is a good time to be Kemi Badenoch. Serious as the subject is, the leader of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-293179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}