- News
- governments-cabinets
- The Guardian view on Kemi Badenoch’s speech: following the path of denial, delusion and defeat | Editorial
The Guardian view on Kemi Badenoch’s speech: following the path of denial, delusion and defeat | Editorial
Kemi Badenoch's debut as Conservative leader played out like a poorly managed campaign rally, all flash and no substance, leaving political strategists scratching their heads at what could possibly come next. Watching her navigate the conference stage felt like observing a candidate who'd studied the playbook of past Tory victories but missed the fundamental shift in Britain's political landscape that rendered those old strategies obsolete.Her refusal to conduct an honest post-mortem of the party's catastrophic election defeat last year represents more than just political stubbornness—it's a strategic miscalculation of historic proportions, the kind that political operatives will study for decades as a masterclass in how to lose a generation of voters. The numbers tell a brutal story: poll ratings in freefall, membership bleeding out, and that steady drip-drip of defections to Reform UK threatening to become a hemorrhage that could permanently realign Britain's right-wing politics.Yet Badenoch's response has been to double down on the very policies and rhetoric that alienated moderate Conservatives in the first place, treating the conference stage as if it were 2019 rather than confronting the reality of 2025. This isn't just denial; it's political malpractice of the highest order, reminiscent of Labour's stubborn adherence to Corbynism long after it became clear the formula was failing.What's particularly striking is how her shallow analysis of the Tory record ignores the complex interplay of Brexit fallout, pandemic mismanagement, and economic stagnation that truly doomed her predecessors—instead offering simplistic narratives that might play well to the party's shrinking base but alienate the centrist voters essential for any future comeback. Her policy prescriptions feel like relics from a bygone political era, ignoring how global economic realignments, climate imperatives, and technological disruption have fundamentally reshaped what British voters expect from their government.The strategic silence on her current predicament—facing what internal polls must show as catastrophic numbers—suggests either a staggering lack of self-awareness or a deliberate calculation that the Conservative base would rather hear comforting fictions than hard truths. Political history shows us that parties facing existential crises have two paths: the Thatcherite model of radical reinvention based on clear-eyed assessment of failure, or the Labour wilderness years of internal factionalism and ideological purity tests that kept them from power for a generation.Every signal from Badenoch's inner circle suggests they're opting for the latter, treating leadership as about rallying the faithful rather than expanding the coalition. The defections to Reform UK aren't just about policy disagreements—they're symptoms of a deeper identity crisis on the British right, where the post-Brexit settlement has left Conservatives without a unifying mission beyond opposition.What's particularly telling is how Badenoch's team has handled media strategy during this conference: tightly controlled appearances, scripted interactions, and avoidance of tough interviews that might force substantive discussion of the party's direction. This approach might minimize short-term gaffes, but it prevents the kind of authentic engagement that could begin rebuilding trust with skeptical voters.Meanwhile, Labour's new government enjoys the luxury of watching their opponents circle the drain, knowing that every day spent on internal Conservative drama is a day they can consolidate their agenda without effective opposition. The historical parallel that comes to mind isn't from British politics but from American: after Barry Goldwater's catastrophic 1964 defeat, Republicans didn't double down on his hardline conservatism—they pivoted to Nixon's broader appeal, understanding that recovery required expanding rather than contracting their base.Badenoch seems to be making the opposite calculation, betting that Britain's economic headwinds will eventually turn voters against the Labour government regardless of Conservative positioning. But that's a dangerous gamble when demographic shifts, regional realignments, and changing values have created an electorate less susceptible to traditional Tory attack lines.The party's internal polling must show what public surveys already reveal: that younger voters see Conservatives as out of touch on everything from climate to housing to digital privacy, while older supporters drift toward Reform UK's simpler messages. Without a coherent strategy to address these structural challenges, Badenoch's leadership looks less like a rebuilding project and more like managed decline—the political equivalent of rearranging deck chairs while the ship takes on water.What's missing from her conference performance is any sense of vision that could transcend these divisions, any policy innovation that might attract new constituencies, any acknowledgment that the Britain of 2025 demands different solutions than the Britain of 2010. Political recoveries require both honest accounting of past failures and bold imagination for future possibilities—Badenoch has offered neither, leaving her party trapped between delusion about what went wrong and denial about what comes next.
It’s quiet here...Start the conversation by leaving the first comment.
© 2025 Outpoll Service LTD. All rights reserved.