Kemi Badenoch vowed that she will not “let the Conservative Party disappear” in comments addressing her approach to politics and opposition, delivered at a centre-right conference last week.
The Tory leader addressed the International Democracy Union (IDU) conference in Brussels, as part of an in-conversation event with Stephen Harper, the organisation’s chair and former prime minister of Canada.
Badenoch was asked for her general take on the political landscape in the UK and the challenges posed to her party.
Speaking implicitly about Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, Badenoch insisted it is unsurprising that former Conservative voters are not “rushing back” to the party.
The Conservative leader, elected to her post on 2 November 2024, said: “My job is to pick all the pieces of the party and rebuild but because the public have just rejected us from government, they’re not rushing back immediately, instead, they’re looking at protest parties and challenger parties.”
She told Harper: “And what we need to do now is remind people that we are the only credible alternative to a Labour government. We are the serious party. We have the experience. Acknowledge that we made a lot of mistakes in government.”
***Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.***
Harper was first elected to the Canadian parliament in 1993 as a representative of the right-wing populist Reform Party of Canada. The rise of the party was motivated by profound discontent with the mainstream Progressive Conservative Party (PCP), which had ruled Canada from 1984 to 1993. The 1993 general election saw the Canadian “Tories” reduced to just two MPs.
In 2003, Harper negotiated the merger of Reform and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to form the Conservative Party of Canada. He was elected as the party’s first leader in March 2004, and subsequently prime minister.
Since 2018, Harper has served as the chair of the IDU, an international alliance of centre-right parties.
Addressing Harper and the IDU conference, Badenoch argued her party needs to “redefine” what modern conservatism looks like, styling herself as an “insurgent’ and an “underdog”.
She said: “We need to redefine what modern conservatism looks like in this landscape. I’m the new kid on the block. I’m the insurgent now. I’m the underdog, and I need to remind people that the Conservative Party which disappointed them is not me, and we are the ones who are the ones who can channel the anger and the frustration.
“Why is it that roads are full of potholes? Why is it that things just don’t look like they’re working? Why is it that they don’t have enough money anymore? Where’s the disposable income gone? Why are we wasting it on all sorts of things that the government has no business whatsoever getting involved in?”
In comments recorded by the official IDU Instagram account, Badenoch added: “We’re going to have to work for every single vote. It’s going to be hand-to-hand combat, we are never letting this go, we’re not just going to allow the Conservative Party, or I am not going to let the Conservative Party disappear.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.
