Kemi Badenoch has admitted that the Conservatives would not win a general election outright if one were held now, saying it would produce a hung parliament.
Asked by Sky News about her party’s polling, Badenoch said: “If there’s an election now, there’d be a hung parliament.”
It was put to Badenoch that the Conservatives were still polling lower than at the 2024 general election, their worst ever defeat, and had lost 1,237 councillors since.
Badenoch responded: “Yes, we did have a terrible defeat two years ago, and we now live in a very volatile political era. We had a prime minister who came in two years ago on a huge landslide, and he’s gone.
“Why? It’s because politics is very volatile. It’s a multi-party era.”
Badenoch was asked to comment on the remarks delivered by Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake at a conference fringe event on Monday. Hollinrake said the party was “not where we need to be right now” and that an election “doesn’t look winnable for anybody”.
Badenoch replied: “Well, yes, that’s the point, that if there’s an election now, there’d be a hung parliament.
“But actually the thing about an election is that people get to see what is really out there. What is the offer… We are the only credible alternative to Labour. No one else is.”
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Badenoch made a similar point as part of a sit-down with BBC News.
“I’m not saying that we would win” in the event of an election, she said. “The current polling shows a hung parliament, no party getting an overall majority. My prediction is that there would be another election immediately after. But we’re the only credible alternative to Labour, only ones with a plan.”
She added: “We’re not out of the woods yet. So people at conference aren’t happy because we’re about to win an election. We’re happy because we know who we are.”
Speaking to 5 News, Badenoch argued that people are “warming” to her.
She said: “I know that people are warming towards me. I now need to show them that the Conservative Party is a different party.”
She added: “I’m working on fixing the brand and that means going back to our core principles…
“I believe that the more that they see of us, the more they see that we have changed, that we’re different. Different to Labour, definitely different to Reform. I think when an election comes people will look again at the Conservative Party, but that’s why every moment I have, I’m working hard to show them that we have changed.”
Questioned on how she would act in the event of a hung parliament, Badenoch told Sky News: “If there is a hung parliament, then we can have another election. We had this in 1974.”
Asked if she would rather have another election than a deal with Reform UK, she said: “I would rather have another election, yes.”
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