Kemi Badenoch has compared her job as Tory Party leader to someone “picking up a distressed asset and turning it around” ahead of the make-or-break conference in Manchester. Launching a media blitz ahead of her journey to the annual gathering, Ms Badenoch warned Tory MPs off wanting short-term “sugar highs” in the wake of Reform UK’s poll dominance.
She compared her job to leading a major corporate institution, adding: “To use a corporate analogy, the quarterly returns may not be great, but the long-term strategy will deliver. If we’re looking for sugar highs just to get us through the week, get us through the day, we will not win the next election.”
Ms Badenoch is facing a tough week as she attempts to prove to her MPs and activists that she can beat Keir Starmer and take political momentum away from Nigel Farage before the next general election.
It’s expected that she will confirm plans to include withdrawal from the European Convention of Human Rights in the next Tory manifesto, though this would be less radical than the proposals put forward by Reform UK.
In a break from tradition Ms Badenoch is expected to deliver two speeches between Sunday and Wednesday, though rumours swirl Mr Farage may be planning a limelight-stealing defection.
Ms Badenoch told Politico that she is “attempting to do something that has not been done before”. She added: “Going from an historic defeat back into government in four years, in one term, that’s going to be difficult.
“It’s going to be hand-to-hand combat, and there’re going to be a lot of bumps along the way.”
The Tory leader attempted to grab the headlines on Wednesday with a radical new pledge repeal the Climate Change Act, which she argues will slash bills while making almost no difference to global climate change.
Ms Badenoch announced: “We want to leave a cleaner environment for our children, but not by bankrupting the country. Under my leadership we will scrap those failed targets.”
However the policy was condemned by Ms Badenoch’s predecessor Theresa May, who first introduced the national Net Zero by 2050 policy.
Baroness May branded the Tories’ abandoning of her unfunded climate legislation a “catastrophic mistake”, adding she was “deeply disappointed” by the “retrograde step”.
“The harms are undeniable. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to ensure we protect the planet for their futures, and that means giving business the reassurance it needs to find the solutions for the very grave challenges we face.”
Ms Badenoch was defiant when asked about further possible defections from the Tories to Reform, accusing them of jumping “wherever they think the wind is blowing”.
She said: “We need MPs who are going to stay the course and stay true to our values, not just people who want to be MPs.”
She also accused Sir Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage of being “both as bad as each other” after the pair spent the past week rowing about immigration policy and racism.
“They are both squabbling like children; the country needs the grown-ups back in the room. We are the grown-ups.”
Ms Badenoch accused Mr Farage of having “messed up and run into trouble” over his pledge to abolish Indefinite Leave to Remain for migrants already in the country, rejecting calls to merge with his party due to their desire to “increase public spending”.