Kemi Badenoch says being Tory leader is ‘going as well as it possibly could’

Kemi Badenoch has said her time as Tory leader has gone “as well as it possibly could” and that she will not be hurried into taking definitive policy positions.

Despite a gaffe-filled first two months in the job, Ms Badenoch told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme “I was expecting it to be much worse”.

“And one of the things that I’m really pleased about is that the party has sort of downed tools on the internecine warfare, and the actual being in parliament and seeing a real Labour government reminds everyone who the real opponent is,” Ms Badenoch added.

As well as facing criticism for the Tories’ lack of a policy platform, much of the focus of her tenure has been on issues such as a diplomatic row between her and Nigeria and her dislike of sandwiches.

Hitting back at criticism of her leadership on Monday, Ms Badenoch said she will publish party policy “as it is thought through”.

She promised that “these things will come”, telling the BBC to “watch this space”. She has benefited from a record-breaking fall in Labour’s poll ratings under Sir Keir Starmer, who has faced a backlash after scrapping millions of pensioners’ winter fuel payments and ending tax breaks for family farmers.

But she is facing a fierce challenge from Nigel Farage, with the latest Techne UK tracker poll for The Independent revealing one in five Tory voters have switched to his Reform UK since the general election. Labour is sitting on 27 per cent of the vote, with the Conservatives narrowly behind on 26 per cent and Reform on 21 per cent, the poll showed.

In the interview, Ms Badenoch said: “We are six weeks into a four-year general election, maybe five even depending on exactly how it works.

“Whatever I say now is likely not to apply then, so what I’m going to do is earn the trust of the British people by explaining to them how we think, and we are going to bring the policy out as it’s thought through.

“So I’m not saying ‘we’re not going to say anything, vote for us’, these things will come (…) you will start to see them soon.”

She later added: “Watch this space’ is what I’m saying, you will see there will be a narrative.”

Mrs Badenoch became Tory leader in November, defeating Robert Jenrick to replace Rishi Sunak.

The MP for North West Essex said in her victory speech that the party needs to be “honest” about the mistakes they made in government.

A Labour spokesman said: “Every time Kemi Badenoch speaks it becomes clearer that she has no solutions to the problems the Tories created.

“Under her leadership, the Conservatives have made unfunded spending commitments worth billions without explaining how she would pay for any of them. The Conservatives haven’t listened and haven’t learned.”

On Sunday, one of Mrs Badenoch’s shadow ministers said it will take time for voters to “understand” the new leader but they will “grow to really respect her”.

Shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake described his party leader as “bold” and “optimistic” and predicted that by 2029 the party will be in a “much better place in terms of convincing people to vote Conservative”.

Mr Hollinrake told Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “Of course there’s work to do, of course it will take time for Kemi, for people to understand what Kemi is all about.

“I worked for her for 18 months in the Department for Business and Trade as her minister and I was nothing but impressed about the person she is.

“She’s bold, she’s optimistic, she’s strong, she says what she thinks – which in politics, I think is quite a rare commodity, sadly.

“So I think over time, people will grow to really respect her. And I think come 2029 we’ll be in a much better place in terms of convincing people to vote Conservative.”