Kemi Badenoch isn’t just playing defence here. By decisively frustrating Farage’s attempt to kill us off, she might just force Reform to rethink its entire strategy. And once both parties realise they’ve got more important things to worry about than each another, anything is possible.
We’ve been asking, what is the state of the left-of-centre voting coalition under the biggest Labour majority for nearly 30 years? With Reform ahead in the polls, can the left mobilise to keep the right out of office? It might be trickier than some imagine.
The Conservative answer should not be a return to liberal complacency. Nor a race to outflank Reform on rhetorical hardness, because they will always go further. In this immigration debate, the Conservative answer should be stronger integration.
She says: “It was the last government … that delivered the very system they now complain about.”
He says it was “a very tough decision” to leave the Conservatives, but he did it because the country is “in real peril right now”.
This isn’t about putting forward easy simplistic answers to complex problems because we know that rarely works and there’s plenty of others filling that space. It’s a serious centre right organisation making the case for growth and developing credible proposals.
He casts doubt on the opinion polls, and predicts the Conservatives will do much better at the next election than many people think.
Andy Street and Ruth Davidson are set to launch a new political ‘movement’ from within the Conservative Party.
Much has been made of those who have chosen to leave the Party. But renewal is not weakened by the departure of opportunists. It is strengthened by those prepared to stay, confront uncomfortable realities, and do the hard work required to win again.
“He [Jenrick] brings what people say we haven’t got, which is ministerial experience,” he says.
He praises Kemi Badenoch and attacks Robert Jenrick for being “irresponsible”.
“There isn’t space for two centre right parties in this country…We will not do a pact with the Tories,” he says.
This isn’t about imperial nostalgia or exporting British values at gunpoint. It’s about recognising that sometimes democracy requires external support to take root.
“It’s very simple, you arrest him, remove his citizenship and remove him back to Egypt,” he says.
The CPC was such a vital asset in policy formation and election campaigns alike, for its educational mission essentially advanced conservatism and strong, articulate conservatives within the Conservative Party.