Kemi Badenoch gave a speech in London at the third ARC conference, earlier today. She started by declaring, in no uncertain terms, that Western civilisation is in crisis and that the Conservative Party is needed to save Britain.
The Tory leader used the opportunity, on the first day of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, to highlight her position on the current state of Western culture by criticising diversity policies and climate activism.
She continued her speech by saying the West is facing a “crisis of confidence in its own culture,” describing it as an “existential threat”. She accused the left of being “embarrassed by the West’s legacy and, in extreme cases, having a hatred of Western history and even its culture”.
In evidence of this, she referenced a recent study by the Times, which found that “almost half of young Brits think their country is racist and nearly 60 per cent of them are not proud to be British”.
This speech comes amid speculation that Badenoch could be replaced as leader of the Conservative Party after the local elections. Senior Tories accused her of not listening and expressed resentment about her plan to not release any major policies for the next two years. Most in the party, however, are reluctant to replace their leader once again.
What is the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship?
According to their website, the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship is a new organisation focussing on the future of our civilisation, bringing together leaders and changemakers from around the world to discuss the growth of our society.
Founded in 2023 by Baroness Stroud, Paul Marshall, Jordan Peterson, and John Anderson, their goal is to share and discuss its ideas of social change, motivating faith and hope, and protecting free exchange and good governance. It claims it doesn’t have a political agenda, but its beliefs lean to the right.
The conferences have seen major right-wing politicians and celebrities in attendance such as Kevin McCarthy, Ben Shapiro, Fraser Nelson, and Ayaan Hirsi Al.
Badenoch’s danger
Kemi Badenoch’s 14 minute speech focused mainly on the decline of conservatism and trust in Western civilisation. After giving statistics on young people’s not being proud of being British, she pointed out that the youngsters don’t trust parliament, as they see it “obsessed with trivia presiding over stagnation, despite making more and more laws”.
After discussing the history of Britain’s social and political past, she then moved to attack climate activism and diversity policies, saying it is “the real poison of left-wing progressivism. Whether it’s pronouns, DEI, or climate activism, these issues aren’t about kindness—they are about control”.
She went on to say that “loopholes in liberalism have been found,” adding that they can be addressed, referencing the European Convention on Human Rights.
In the final segment, she concluded by declaring that “conservatives are the guardians of Western civilisation” and that immigrants who want to move to the West “must bring cultures that are aligned with Western values”.
Both Labour and the Lib Dems responded to her controversial speech. Labour claimed it proved that “the Tories haven’t listened”. Meanwhile, Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said Badenoch is “competing with Nigel Farage to fawn over Donald Trump”.
