Kemi Badenoch has officially launched her Tory leadership campaign in which she criticised the Conservative party for governing like Labour.
She argued that the party needs to ‘reboot, reset, and rewire,’ accusing previous leaders of having ‘talked right but governed left’.
In her first major ‘Renewal 2030’ speech in London, Badenoch voiced concerns about the recent election of five ‘sectarian Islamist’ MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, who unseated Labour in July.
These MPs announced on Monday that they have formed a new ‘Independent Alliance,’ making them the fifth largest party in the Commons. Badenoch argued that they embody ‘alien ideas’ that don’t belong in Britain and said she is ‘far more worried’ about them than the five new MPs from Reform UK.
Badenoch also spoke about immigration, stating she wouldn’t support an annual cap like some of her rivals, arguing that such targets have been ineffective in the past. She criticised other candidates for offering ‘easy answers’ and stressed the importance of fixing the system instead of making empty promises. She vowed to confront ‘hard truths’ and to avoid the political ‘spin’ she believes has characterised recent politics.
She also distanced herself from Tories advocating for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which outlines the rights and freedoms in member countries. Critics, including Robert Jenrick, argue that the treaty hinders the UK’s ability to deport asylum seekers and curb illegal migration. However, Badenoch contended that leaving the ECHR ‘would not be enough,’ noting that other signatory countries successfully deport most of those they wish to remove.
In a dig at Labour, she said the party has ‘no ideas’ and has announced policies that the Tories ‘have already done’, saying they are ‘clueless, irresponsible and dishonest’.
“Their model of spend, spend, spend is broken, and they don’t know what to do, and this will only lead to even more cynicism in politics,” she added.
Keir Starmer responded to Badenoch’s remarks by refusing to take ‘lectures’ from the previous government, which he said left the country with a £22 billion pound blackhole in public finances.
“The country is in a real state, the economy has been badly damaged, nobody really argues in relation to that,” Starmer said. “So, I think that what the Conservatives could do was to apologise for the mess that they made.”
James Cleverly and other contenders like Tom Tugendhat, Dame Priti Patel, and Robert Jenrick have also been making their pitches for leadership. Tory MPs will vote on Wednesday to reduce the candidates from six to five, with another vote next Monday to further narrow the field.
