KEMI Badenoch enters the final week of the Conservative leadership race with a direct plea for former Tory voters who backed Nigel Farage’s Reform UK to “come home”.
Bookies’ favourite Ms Badenoch claims Reform voters “lost” the last election because the nation now has a Labour Government “doing everything we hate”. But she says the Conservatives can “kick out Keir Starmer in one term” if members choose the right leader.
The leadership ballot will close on 5pm on Thursday with the country learning on Saturday whether Tory members have chosen Ms Badenoch or former immigration minister Robert Jenrick as successor to Rishi Sunak.
Polling by Savanta shows that more voters have an “unfavourable” view of Labour leader Sir Keir (48 per cent) than of Ms Badenoch (33 per cent) or Mr Jenrick (30 per cent).
A key challenge for the winner will be halting the exodus of Conservative activists to Reform ranks and winning back support in time for the next general election. Reform won more than four million votes with the Conservatives getting less than seven million – and Nigel Farage’s party has high ambitions for the upcoming council, Scottish and Welsh Parliament elections.
In a boost for Ms Badenoch, she has won the endorsement of Shadow Welsh Secretary Byron Davies and his predecessor David Davies.
Ms Badenoch urged Sunday Express readers who voted Reform to support the Conservatives, saying: “I want those of you who voted Reform to come home. I am sorry we lost your trust, but I am fighting every day to get it back.
“In July the country gave the Conservative Party an almighty kicking. Yes we deserved it, but it wasn’t just Tory voters who lost, Reform voters did too.
“Now we all face a Labour government that is doing everything we hate, from giving away British territory in the Chagos Islands, to snatching winter fuel payments from people who need them.
“We can turn this around and kick out Keir Starmer in one term with the right leader.”
Among Tory voters, Ms Badenoch has a slight edge over Mr Jenrick, with 39 per cent saying she they have a “favourable” impression of her, compared with 37 per cent who say the same for her rival.
Ms Badenoch said: “I want to give the Conservative Party back to its members. To focus on conservative principles we all believe in, like personal responsibility, free speech and the importance of the family.
“I want to make the voters that turned to Reform see that the Conservative Party is working for them again. And most of all, I want them to remember that I am the only one who can expose this failing Labour government and hold them to account for the mess they’re already making of our country.
“Join me so we can kick Keir Starmer out of office at the next election.”
Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform, hit back at Ms Badenoch’s attempts to win over Reform voters.
He said: “Kemi Badenoch sat around the cabinet table and nodded along to every disastrous policy put forward by the Tories in recent years. She is part of the problem.”
Mr Tice described the two Tory candidates as “extremely forgettable with bleak track records in office,” adding: “Reform now have 93,000 members and are rolling out an election winning machine across the country.
“We are the only option for voters who want lower immigration, taxes and waste.”
