Kemi Badenoch Believes the System is Broken and her First Performance at PMQ’s has Proven that she Isn’t the Person to Fix It

Launching her bid to become leader of the Conservative party earlier this year, Kemi Badenoch argued that the business of government in the United Kingdom is currently being stymied by a broken system. Citing her background as an engineer and time in government, the former Business and Trade Secretary voiced her desire to “rewire the state, reboot the economy and revive our country.” Upon being elected party leader on November 2nd, she went on to outline her primary objectives: the provision of effective opposition and the “bringing of people back to the Conservative party.” 

Badenoch expressly stated that part of her campaign approach involved refusing to put forth any concrete policies, a stance which fellow leadership rival and newly appointed Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick branded disrespectful to the party membership. Badenoch told Nick Robinson of the BBC: “If this was a general election, yes, it would be wrong to be standing with no policies. This is not a general election.” 

With reports of concerns amongst MPs that this stance has done lasting damage with both the right of the party and those inclined to vote Reform UK, her first performance as Leader of the Opposition at today’s PMQ’s can have done little to assuage those fears. Badenoch arrived flanked on the frontbenches by her newly appointed shadow cabinet- a cabinet which she claims “draws on talents from across our [Conservative] party” but which has been criticised by senior Labour officials as emblematic of the ‘chaos, division and recklessness’ within it. 

Striving to appear dogmatic in her approach to opposition, Badenoch repeatedly hammered Starmer on his recently fractious relationship with newly re-elected President Donald Trump amidst accusations of electoral interference. Diverting her attention only briefly to comment upon the controversy surrounding Labour’s levying of the inheritance tax upon family-owned British farms, Badenoch’s criticism served only to permit Sir Kier Starmer to put forth his own policy forum, notably championing Labour’s record on defence and commitment to spending 2.5% of Britain’s GDP on national security. 

Unable to convince that she has yet devised any policies of her own, Badenoch bolstered Labour’s position of competency and will have failed to inspire confidence within either the party or the wider electorate. It is a good job for the Conservative party that today was not a general election. 

Words by Elliot Johnston Coates

Cover Image Credit: HM Treasury via Flickr