Kemi Badenoch was interviewed last night by The Spectator‘s Political Editor, Tim Shipman, in front of a live audience at Church House in Westminster. Much of what the Conservative leader said was a retreading over familiar ground. The Conservative party was a ‘distressed asset’ when she inherited the leadership, she said, but is now getting a second hearing. Badenoch said, of the economy, that the country must cut spending before it cuts taxes, and that it is time that the government gets out of the way of business. The Conservative party was ‘for the people who get up every day’, she insisted, and that what is needed in politics is more common sense.
Badenoch said that Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson had acted like a ‘Gestapo officer’
Some policy suggestions were more novel. While discussing what principles Tory candidates must have to stand during the next general election, Badenoch suggested that abolishing Net Zero targets could be mandatory alongside committing to withdrawal from the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights). Badenoch reaffirmed her position that legal immigration would be reformed to account for the culture of origin countries. She also explicitly rejected axing the triple lock as it ‘not the root cause of the problem’ with the economy. Badenoch insisted that the state pension is ‘not that much’ and that bearing down on pension expenditure would just mean redistributing a shrinking pie when the focus should instead be on growth.
Badenoch is particularly proud of her record in raising funding and said that her party was outdoing Reform when you subtract the mega donations the latter has received from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne. She said she wanted the Tories to have a ‘broad and deep’ base of financial support which would not rely on ‘one person carrying us’. Badenoch has been helped in finding money for the party by her husband, Hamish, who has taken on a fundraising role for the party. We learn also that Hamish Badenoch is a fan of classic cars, being the proud owner of a 1970s MG, an aperçu which was received by the audience with a round of appreciative cooing.
When questioned at some length about the various arrangements and pacts that the Tories might agree with Reform – whether that be a confidence and supply arrangement, or standing down in seats by mutual agreement where one party has a clear advantage – Badenoch eventually said ‘no, no, no, no, no’ to every possible arrangement. She said that ambiguity could send mixed messages about who people should vote for at the next election.
Away from Reform, Badenoch also spoke about the government. She said that Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson had acted like a ‘Gestapo officer’ closing down private schools. She said she had ‘grown to feel sorry for’ Keir Starmer but was struck by how ready he is to throw other people under the bus to save his own skin. On the prospect of having Andy Burnham to face across the Despatch Box she appeared unfused, saying she ‘likes to try new things’. The Liberal Democrats were also given a quick jab, with Badenoch claiming that voters choose them to say ‘none of the above’ while trying to look respectable.
Perhaps most interestingly, given last week’s Spectator cover piece on Restore, Badenoch gave a somewhat quixotic answer when asked whether or not the Tories had agreed a pact with Restore. Although there was not a formal pact with Restore, she said, there had been an agreement to get Rupert Lowe, the party’s leader, a seat on the Public Accounts Committee. She said also that she ‘respects Rupert’ because he ‘turns up to work’ but that she would not go ‘as far’ as having him defect to the Conservative Party.
We also learned that Kemi Badenoch has bested our Editor several times in Poker, a game she enjoys as it involves reading people. Also, like our Editor, she names Game of Thrones as her favourite television show. Her favourite character from the show is Daenerys Targaryen, a young woman from a powerful political family who is spirited away from her place of birth to spend her childhood in a foreign land. She is then condescended to and doubted by all and sundry before she overcomes the powers that be with shock and awe. Badenoch said she found Daenerys relatable until she ‘went mad’ at the end.
Finally, there was something of a confession. The video game Kemi Badenoch was rumoured to have been playing in the back of cars during the 2024 leadership campaign, which journalists have spent the past two years trying to identify was…Sim City. She reassured the audience that she had not played the game for years, but said that she ‘did love it’.
The evening closed with a semi-standing ovation, observed by about a fifth of the audience. Enough to stay in the game, but still well short of a majority.
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