Residents of the most Tory area in Britain don’t have a clue who Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch is – despite her marking three months in the job today.
She has been struggling to find her feet since replacing Rishi Sunak, with weak PMQs performances and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK overtaking her party in the polls. The Mirror last week visited outer London’s Harrow East, where the Tories won their highest vote share (53.3%) at the general election, to chat to locals about Ms Badenoch.
In bad news for the Tory leader, over half of people we spoke to on Stanmore high street did not know Ms Badenoch’s name or had “never” seen her before when shown a photo. Only about a third of people we spoke to knew her name. This is despite more than half of the constituents having voted Tory at the polls last year.
Tory voter Babu Shah, 70, a retired administrator, told the Mirror he’s been “really disappointed” in the Conservative Party in the last couple of years. While he could identify Ms Badenoch, he said he doesn’t know much about her as he is now disinterested in a party that is in “total disarray”.
“Just before the election – I’m talking about six months before the election – since then the party has been in disarray, total disarray and I have lost interest in the politics of the Conservative Party totally – and not only the Conservative Party, but the whole political scene,” he told the Mirror. Mr Shah added that his main reason for voting Tory was his “great” MP – veteran politician Bob Blackman.
None of the younger people, in their 20s or 30s, who The Mirror spoke to could name Ms Badenoch after seeing an image of her. Samra Ali, 27, a nursery worker who voted for the Green Party, recognised Ms Badenoch and knew she was a Tory, but couldn’t remember her name.
Asked what she thinks of the Conservative politician, she said: “I know she’s a bit problematic in certain aspects. I don’t exactly know… I’m not a massive fan of her from the things I have heard about her.”
Labour voter Maurice, 87, who only wanted to give his first name, said Tory members had already shown they were “hopeless” at picking the right leader after electing Liz Truss. The retired librarian, who knew who Ms Badenoch was, said: “I think she’s provocative. I don’t think she’ll do the Conservative Party any favours. She’s divisive.”
Tory voters Adele and Leon Shirk, both in their 50s, recognised Ms Badenoch but joked: “She’s the Tory leader at the moment. For the moment. It changes quicker than you can think.” Leon said he thought she was doing a good job so far, especially in dealing with “real issues like security” such as safety in local areas.
Other Tory voters, including Ivor and Adrienne Grant, both in their 80s, agreed she was doing a good job “so far”. Ivor added: “I think she’s probably the best person that the Conservatives have got at the moment.” Adrienne said she didn’t think Rishi Sunak made enough impact and said ousting Boris Johnson was a “mistake”.
On Badenoch, she said: “I think it’s a bit early days to know actually.” She added: “I’m more interested in what’s going on with America at the moment. More interested in Trump.”
Amar Patel, 34, an estate agent who voted Tory at the election, said he had “no idea” who Ms Badenoch was when he saw a photo of her. “I think I’ve seen her in the House of Commons but I don’t know her name,” he added. Mr Patel said he was on top of politics during the election period, adding: “But now the Labour government is in so I’m more on top of what’s going on with the new government in charge.”
Asked about The Mirror’s story, a Tory MP told the Mirror it was only fair to give Ms Badenoch more time. “It takes a long time for any new leader of the opposition to find their feet,” he said. He said Margaret Thatcher was also criticised for her PMQs performances or how she presented herself at first, “and then she became our most successful leader, arguably, ever”.
The MP admitted the challenge Ms Badenoch and the party must overcome is “massive”. He said: “We took the most almighty kicking last July. It was our worst election defeat ever.
“Before Kemi can even make her mark on saying something positive about the next general election, which the public full well knows is years away…we’ve got to straightforwardly re-earn the rights to even be heard. And that doesn’t happen overnight. That is actually a long slow period of putting our hands up to what we got wrong.”
All the issues Kemi Badenoch must overcome
1. Shaking off the Tory legacy
One of the biggest issues Kemi Badenoch faces is detaching herself from the dire legacy of the Tories’ 14 years in power. In a speech earlier this month, she declared the Conservative Party “under new leadership” and vowed to tell the “truth about the mistakes we made”. But the problem for Ms Badenoch is that she has been front and centre of Tory chaos in recent years. Having been International Trade Secretary under Liz Truss and Business Secretary under Rishi Sunak, she is hardly putting the “new” in “new leadership”.
It hasn’t helped that Labour’s biggest attack since the election is to keep reminding the public about the horrid Tory inheritance it received. The Tories having left behind a £22billion hole in the public finances certainly hasn’t helped. It leaves Ms Badenoch at a dead end. If she wants to criticise anything about the state of the country, she is hit with replies along the lines of “well, you broke it when you were in power” or “why didn’t you fix it when you were in government?” And it’s probably fair to say that no comeback will ever be sufficient.
2. Figuring out some policies
Kemi Badenoch has told her top team of shadow ministers not to hold their breath for any big policy announcements – as she’s not planning to make any for the next two years. She’s said to be focusing on rebuilding trust after her party was decimated at the polls in the election. But Ms Badenoch, who has a tendency to say wild things in interviews, has appeared to let slip a few of her thoughts.
In one interview last month, she sparked fury by saying the Tories are looking at “means testing” the state pension triple lock. She later backtracked on her comments – in the same way as when she was forced to rollback after saying maternity pay was “excessive” during the Tory leadership race. Ms Badenoch also announced she backed a smartphone ban for under 16s. Labour rejected the “headline grabbing gimmick” demand for phones to be banned in classrooms as it said schools already have enough powers to take phones off students.
3. Getting attention for the wrong reasons
The Tory leader’s performances at PMQs have got off to a shaky start. A Tory MP told the Mirror Ms Badenoch’s questions can sometimes be “too long” or leave “too much wiggle room” for Keir Starmer. Her lines of questioning have often been branded confusing as she bounces between several different topics within a few minutes. The weekly exchanges in the House of Commons are one of Ms Badenoch’s key opportunities to grab headlines and get herself noticed by the public. But she’s been making little splash there. Instead, Ms Badenoch has found herself the centre of attention for strange and wacky reasons.
Her bizarre claim that sandwiches are “not real food” and that “lunch is for wimps” – but that she sometimes has a steak brought to her when she’s working – is just one example. Ms Badenoch also finds herself attracting attention for her public spats. Most recently, on Thursday, her attack on Labour over apprenticeship figures backfired after she wrongly claimed the party were using Tory figures. It prompted Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to fiercely correct her, telling her she needs to “get a grip of the detail”. Ms Badenoch previously said that she “never” has gaffes and “never” has to clarify her comments because she thinks “very carefully” about what she says. Sure.
4. The mega threat of Reform UK
Reform UK poses a major threat to Ms Badenoch and her party. YouGov’s latest polling last week put Nigel Farage’s party on 23% – one point ahead of the Tories. On Friday brazen Mr Farage even held a Reform UK rally in Ms Badenoch’s constituency to show he was not just challenging the Conservative Party – but also its leader personally.
Mr Farage and Ms Badenoch have not seen eye to eye either – with the pair embroiled in an embarrassing public row on Twitter/X on Boxing Day over who had the most party members. In a bid to stop rightwingers ditching her party, Ms Badenoch appears to be trying to align with Reform UK on divisive issues. Keir Starmer accused her of jumping on the “bandwagon” in calling for a national inquiry into grooming gangs – which was being pushed by the likes of Mr Farage and Elon Musk – after she failed to raise the issue when the Tories were in power.
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5. Keeping Tory MPs from fighting each other
Ms Badenoch’s key job is not only getting the country behind her – but also keeping her party united. The Tories exploded in on themselves in their final years in power. Splinter groups of Conservative MPs who varied in their political beliefs ended up dubbing themselves “The Five Families”, in a nod to the mafia in the US. Rishi Sunak spent much of his time not fighting the Labour party but trying to hose down Tory rebellions trying to torpedo his plans. It is arguably easier to keep Tory MPs in check nowadays because there are far fewer of them. They only have 121 MPs – having lost 251 seats at the election.
But there are already rumblings of people not having confidence in Ms Badenoch – and there will always be Tory MPs whose own personal interests come before the party’s. No less from Robert Jenrick, who lost to Ms Badenoch in the final hurdle of the Tory leadership race. The controversial figure has been accused of still trying to fuel his own leadership ambitions by getting attention with divisive comments – despite having a role in Ms Badenoch’s shadow cabinet.
