Most conference speeches are significant for only one moment. Kemi Badenoch’s address to the Tory faithful today had two of note. The first was a highly energised, full-throated assault on Reform UK in a moment which signified the death of any ‘Unite the right’ campaign while she remains leader. The second was her pledge to legislate to stop inheritance tax being levied on family homes. Together, they mark the return to conviction politics after an era in which men like Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak were more comfortable making technical arguments. Badenoch’s speech, following Andy Burnham’s turn last week, was deeply ideological, explicitly welcoming the return to a proper ‘battle of ideas’ when parliament resumes sitting on Monday.
As she walked out on stage, to the sound of trumpets blasting, Badenoch was in a very different place from her turn this time twelve months’ ago. Back then, it was really make or break: now, her leadership is already secure. The applause from the membership bordered on the orgastic, with the Essex MP even audibly muttering ‘Wow’ to herself as she urged them to cease and allow her to make her speech. Unlike the Prime Minister last week, Badenoch was clearly keen to make a ‘traditional’ conference speech, with plenty of punchy attack lines. The passage on Burnham was somewhat pedestrian but necessary: a paint by numbers job, reminding watchers that he was content to be Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Home Secretary. But it was the passage on Reform where the Tory leader really came alive, unleashing a wave of vitriol on Nigel Farage and his troops.
She went for the likes of Suella Braverman who question whether an Englishman can be black.
Badenoch’s attack was focused on probity. First, she lambasted Reform’s records on standards, citing the case of Nathan Gill, the jailed ex-Wales leader, and George Cottrell, the controversial longtime Farage associate. ‘A year ago, those politicians were measuring up the curtains for No. 10’, she joked. ‘Now, some of them, are measuring up the curtains for their prison cells.’ But it was the subsequent passage on race where the passion filled her voice. She went for the likes of Suella Braverman who question whether an Englishman can be black. ‘I remember back in the day when Ian Wright and John Barnes were playing – nobody was questioning whether they were English’, she said. ‘We certainly didn’t have sitting MPs questioning whether they were English.’ She referenced her children, her voice swelling, ‘I am black. I am British. I am proud of my country. I’m proud of our history, all that we have done, and all that we will do in the world.’ The room thundered.
After that, normal service resumed. It was a fairly typical Tory leader’s speech, mixing plenty of policies released earlier, alongside a smattering of new attack lines. Some of the party’s claims will raise an eyebrow or two, with her plan to enact the ‘largest prison building programme in modern history’ likely to invoke cynical laughs among hoary old hands of Whitehall. The room loved it though, clapping along as she moved through the gears. Her next key passage came when she moved to inheritance tax, long mooted as a policy which the party might scrap. She grinned: ‘Just because I can’t give you everything that you want, doesn’t mean I can’t give you some of what you want’ to laughs. She then announced plans to legislate to exempt family homes and says that couples will be able to leave an additional £1million tax-free. ‘These changes mean every inheritance tax bill will be cut and the number of families paying inheritance tax will fall by more than half’, she said to cheers.
The speech ended with a rousing cry. ‘No stamp duty when you buy your home, no mansion tax when you live in your home and no inheritance tax on your home when you pass it to your children or grandchildren’, Badenoch promised. ‘Something for everyone!’ as cries of ‘Kemi! Kemi! Kemi!’ greeted her at the climax. It marked the underlying theme of this conference season: clear blue water between the different parties. Burnham’s remark that ‘national security cannot come at the expense of social security’ summed up the differences in Labour versus Tory thinking. Both Burnham and Reform will claim it shows that Badenoch’s party is little more than one of the rich, for the rich and by the rich. But for most Conservatives, who have looked into the valley of death this past year, it will be exactly what they wanted to hear. Last week, Burnham threw down the gauntlet: today Kemi Badenoch has picked it up and hurled it straight back. Game on.
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