Peter Franklin: Does it matter if the Conservative Party becomes the Kemi Show?
We're watching the same failure loop.
Peter Franklin is an Associate Editor of UnHerd.
No one has benefitted more from the release of the Epstein Files than Kemi Badenoch.
Before the Mandelson scandal blew-up again, the political narrative was heading in the wrong direction for her. It wasn’t just the disruptive effect of the defections; it was also the botched response. Those uncalled for remarks about Suella Braverman’s mental health were quickly withdrawn and explained away as an isolated lapse of judgement. However, the mocking tone of Badenoch’s “drama queens” speech on the 28th of January spoke to a deeper problem: the apparent belief that we can convince the country we are the “party of serious people” by means of an unserious speech.
The Gorton and Denton by-election presented Badenoch with another impediment. Our vote in the constituency is already low and likely to be squeezed by Reform. So, again, a further drain on the momentum that she’d accumulated last year.
There’s more bad news to come with the May elections for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd and various councils. These are seats last contested four or five years ago and the results will reflect everything that Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak did to crash the Conservative Party when they were in charge. Unfortunately for Badenoch, she’ll be the one sweeping up the wreckage.
It’ll probably be worse for Labour.
If Starmer hasn’t already gone by that point, then coming third in Scotland and losing in Wales for the first time in a hundred years could be the last straw. And yet the choice of a new Labour leader — and, possibly, an acting prime minister, will extend the period in which the Conservative Party struggles for traction.
Or rather that would have been the case if the Epstein files hadn’t recontextualised the entire narrative.
Far from being sidelined, Badenoch has been handed a starring role. And last week, she played it perfectly.
Rather than using PMQs to grandstand, she got the Prime Minister to make a crucial matter-of-fact admission in front of his stony-faced colleagues. And instead of pushing for a vote of no confidence, which would have united the Labour Party, the use of the humble address procedure gave the whole House the space to extract maximum concessions from the government.
So if Keir Starmer does end up following Morgan McSweeney out the door, it won’t be the winning party in Gorton and Denton that gets the credit, nor the forthcoming triumphs for the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales, nor Starmer’s enemies within the Labour Party. Rather, the clip that’s going to be played over-and-over again is Badenoch’s stiletto of a question: “Can the Prime Minister tell us: did the official security vetting that he received mention Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with the …
We're watching the same failure loop.
Peter Franklin is an Associate Editor of UnHerd.
No one has benefitted more from the release of the Epstein Files than Kemi Badenoch.
Before the Mandelson scandal blew-up again, the political narrative was heading in the wrong direction for her. It wasn’t just the disruptive effect of the defections; it was also the botched response. Those uncalled for remarks about Suella Braverman’s mental health were quickly withdrawn and explained away as an isolated lapse of judgement. However, the mocking tone of Badenoch’s “drama queens” speech on the 28th of January spoke to a deeper problem: the apparent belief that we can convince the country we are the “party of serious people” by means of an unserious speech.
The Gorton and Denton by-election presented Badenoch with another impediment. Our vote in the constituency is already low and likely to be squeezed by Reform. So, again, a further drain on the momentum that she’d accumulated last year.
There’s more bad news to come with the May elections for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd and various councils. These are seats last contested four or five years ago and the results will reflect everything that Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak did to crash the Conservative Party when they were in charge. Unfortunately for Badenoch, she’ll be the one sweeping up the wreckage.
It’ll probably be worse for Labour.
If Starmer hasn’t already gone by that point, then coming third in Scotland and losing in Wales for the first time in a hundred years could be the last straw. And yet the choice of a new Labour leader — and, possibly, an acting prime minister, will extend the period in which the Conservative Party struggles for traction.
Or rather that would have been the case if the Epstein files hadn’t recontextualised the entire narrative.
Far from being sidelined, Badenoch has been handed a starring role. And last week, she played it perfectly.
Rather than using PMQs to grandstand, she got the Prime Minister to make a crucial matter-of-fact admission in front of his stony-faced colleagues. And instead of pushing for a vote of no confidence, which would have united the Labour Party, the use of the humble address procedure gave the whole House the space to extract maximum concessions from the government.
So if Keir Starmer does end up following Morgan McSweeney out the door, it won’t be the winning party in Gorton and Denton that gets the credit, nor the forthcoming triumphs for the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales, nor Starmer’s enemies within the Labour Party. Rather, the clip that’s going to be played over-and-over again is Badenoch’s stiletto of a question: “Can the Prime Minister tell us: did the official security vetting that he received mention Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with the …
Peter Franklin: Does it matter if the Conservative Party becomes the Kemi Show?
We're watching the same failure loop.
Peter Franklin is an Associate Editor of UnHerd.
No one has benefitted more from the release of the Epstein Files than Kemi Badenoch.
Before the Mandelson scandal blew-up again, the political narrative was heading in the wrong direction for her. It wasn’t just the disruptive effect of the defections; it was also the botched response. Those uncalled for remarks about Suella Braverman’s mental health were quickly withdrawn and explained away as an isolated lapse of judgement. However, the mocking tone of Badenoch’s “drama queens” speech on the 28th of January spoke to a deeper problem: the apparent belief that we can convince the country we are the “party of serious people” by means of an unserious speech.
The Gorton and Denton by-election presented Badenoch with another impediment. Our vote in the constituency is already low and likely to be squeezed by Reform. So, again, a further drain on the momentum that she’d accumulated last year.
There’s more bad news to come with the May elections for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd and various councils. These are seats last contested four or five years ago and the results will reflect everything that Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak did to crash the Conservative Party when they were in charge. Unfortunately for Badenoch, she’ll be the one sweeping up the wreckage.
It’ll probably be worse for Labour.
If Starmer hasn’t already gone by that point, then coming third in Scotland and losing in Wales for the first time in a hundred years could be the last straw. And yet the choice of a new Labour leader — and, possibly, an acting prime minister, will extend the period in which the Conservative Party struggles for traction.
Or rather that would have been the case if the Epstein files hadn’t recontextualised the entire narrative.
Far from being sidelined, Badenoch has been handed a starring role. And last week, she played it perfectly.
Rather than using PMQs to grandstand, she got the Prime Minister to make a crucial matter-of-fact admission in front of his stony-faced colleagues. And instead of pushing for a vote of no confidence, which would have united the Labour Party, the use of the humble address procedure gave the whole House the space to extract maximum concessions from the government.
So if Keir Starmer does end up following Morgan McSweeney out the door, it won’t be the winning party in Gorton and Denton that gets the credit, nor the forthcoming triumphs for the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales, nor Starmer’s enemies within the Labour Party. Rather, the clip that’s going to be played over-and-over again is Badenoch’s stiletto of a question: “Can the Prime Minister tell us: did the official security vetting that he received mention Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with the …
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