Kemi Badenoch ‘staying the course’ to fix Tory party despite ‘tough times’

Kemi Badenoch has insisted she is “staying the course” to fix the Conservative Party which she cast as the only “credible alternative” to Labour.

The Tory leader said she will use her party’s conference starting on Sunday in Manchester to show voters “that we’re the only party that can deliver a stronger economy and stronger borders”.

She acknowledged the Tories were having a “tough time” after last year’s landslide general election defeat, dismal poll ratings and a string of defections to Reform UK.

But she struck a defiant tone, portraying herself as the right leader to revive what she called the “distressed asset” of a party.

Asked whether the comparison might dampen morale among her MPs ahead of the annual gathering, she told the PA news agency: “Not at all.

“I use a corporate analogy. When you have a distressed asset, you need a long-term strategy, not a short-term one, to fix it.

“And as we see in corporations that are turning themselves around, it’s not the quarterly earnings you look at. It is whether the strategy is going to deliver, an answer will deliver.

“So I’m staying the course.”

On her hopes for the conference, Mrs Badenoch said: “We are setting out how and why we are a credible alternative to Labour.

“Unemployment has risen every single month since Labour came into office. Inflation has nearly doubled since Labour came into office.

“People are crying out for solutions, and I’m going to show you we’re the only party that can deliver a stronger economy and stronger borders.”

A war of words between Sir Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage was “not serious behaviour”, Mrs Badenoch added.

The Prime Minister declared the Tory party “dead” at Labour’s conference, which featured multiple attacks on Reform UK’s immigration plan, prompting Mr Farage to claim his politicians’ safety had been put at risk.

Mrs Badenoch said she did not agree with either side, rejecting “identity politics”.

“They spent quite a lot of time hurling insults at each other,” she said.

“This is not serious behaviour. We need serious, competent, responsible government. We need serious, competent, responsible parties. Only the Conservative Party offers that.”

Asked whether the Tories’ conference would be dominated by criticism of Reform like Labour’s, Mrs Badenoch said: “I highly doubt that.

“Labour want to talk about Reform because they think that they can galvanise the left and defeat Reform. They know that that is not the same with us.

“We are a much tougher opponent. We are a credible party. We have the experience.”

Pointing to the Tories “exposing” revelations that led to departures from Government by Angela Rayner and Lord Peter Mandelson, Mrs Badenoch promised “more of that is to come”.

The Conservative leader declined to repeat Sir Keir’s labelling of Reform’s plans to scrap indefinite leave to remain for immigrants legally in the UK as racist.

She said: “Right now we are seeing that immigration is too high.

“Nigel Farage’s policies are half copied from us. He doesn’t really understand them. He can’t answer questions on them. That is not competence. Reform is a one-man band.”

Mrs Badenoch brushed off Mr Farage’s use of the term “Boriswave” to mean the hundreds of thousands of migrants who came to the UK under more relaxed post-Brexit rules introduced by Boris Johnson’s Tory government, while admitting errors had been made by the administration she served in.

“I think that Nigel Farage is going to say whatever it is he wants to say to get elected.

“I’m not going to do that. I have said that we made mistakes in government. That’s why I’ve been elected leader, because I talked about those mistakes, and I’ve talked about how we’re going to fix them.”

To rein in migration, Mrs Badenoch is widely expected to set out how her party would withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). She refused to be drawn on the plans before her conference speech.

Ruling out a Tory merger with Reform, Mrs Badenoch said: “No pacts.

“Right now, we are making sure that people understand what the Conservative Party is about. It is not about winning elections just to win elections.

“It is about winning elections to deliver in government. That needs credible policies and credible plans. That is what I’m working on now.”

The Conservatives have recently suffered a slew of defections to Reform, including by shadow frontbencher Danny Kruger.

Former Conservative armed forces minister Sarah Atherton became the latest to jump ship, saying on Thursday the Tories had failed the military.

Although less damaging to Mrs Badenoch than the defection of sitting MP Mr Kruger, the revelation adds to the building sense of exodus from the traditional party of the centre right.

The Tory leader said: “Former MPs have been defecting. Many of them are going where they think the wind is blowing.”

But she conceded that leaders are “always sad to lose party members”.

“What I would say to the public is that the Conservatives had a historic defeat. This is a tough time for us.

“But if people cannot deal with tough times in opposition, they definitely will not be able to deal with tough times in government.”

A Reform UK spokesman said: “Kemi Badenoch and the Tories are irrelevant. They have lied and failed the country too many times over the past 15 years to ever be taken seriously again.

“The Tories are losing local by-elections across the country to Reform UK – they are a spent force in British politics.”

No 10 has been contacted for comment.