What amazing changes a year can bring.
asserted
year → bring → changes
At the time of the Tory Party conference 12 months ago, Kemi Badenoch was being written off by politicians of all parties, including her own, and by many in the media.
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Badenoch → write → media
She was said to be abrasive, lazy, shallow, inexperienced and not up to the job.
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She → say → job
I had some qualms myself, though I don’t think I gave vent to them.
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I → have → them
Her reputation has soared in a remarkably short period.
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reputation → soar → period
She regularly got the better of a leaden Keir Starmer in the Commons, and comes across as strong, good-humoured and principled.
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She → get → Commons
Kemi’s personal ratings are high – much higher than those of her party, which has advanced only minimally in the polls despite Labour’s tribulations and Reform UK’s self-inflicted wounds.
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which → advance → tribulations
But before we consider that concerning contradiction, let me flesh out the nature of her achievement.
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me → consider → achievement
For many she is the first true Tory leader of the party since Margaret Thatcher was defenestrated by lily-livered scoundrels nearly 36 years ago.
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Thatcher → defenestrate → scoundrels
We have endured countless disappointments from pragmatists and trimmers carrying a tattered Conservative banner who often seemed indistinguishable from their Labour opponents.
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who → endure → opponents
In a short period, Kemi Badenoch's reputation has soared and her personal ratings are high
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ratings → soar → period
With the Maastricht Treaty, John Major took us closer to the heart of the European Union with as much zeal as Tony Blair demonstrated after becoming prime minister in 1997.
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Blair → take → 1997
I’ll skip over William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard, because none of them achieved power, and alight on David Cameron.
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none → skip → Cameron
His greatest hero appears to have been Blair.
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hero → appear → ?
Where does one start?
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one → start → ?
With Cameron’s claptrap about the ‘Big Society’ and his being photographed hugging huskies? Or the sharp increase in taxes for the better-off on his watch?
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his → photograph → watch
Or the intensification of a futile war in Afghanistan, which cost so many British lives and so much treasure?
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which → cost → lives
Of all his sins I might settle on his resolve to raise foreign aid to the highest of any major economy while denying extra funds to the under-resourced British Armed Forces.
uncertain
I → settle → Forces
This showboating continued after Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014.
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showboating → continue → 2014
And then there was mass immigration, which reached new highs during Cameron’s prime ministership, though the Tories managed to set breathtaking all-time records in the post-Covid years.
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Tories → be → years
Nor should we forget the headlong rush to Net Zero at the expense of economic growth, which the Conservative Party pursued until its defeat in July 2024.
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Party → forget → July
Kemi Badenoch, who became an MP in 2017 and a junior minister in 2019, was associated with these failures.
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who → become → failures
One of her best qualities is her open admission of past errors by her party, from which she doesn’t seek to escape responsibility.
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she → seek → responsibility
This is a theme in a booklet called The Right Way, published yesterday as the Tory Party conference opened in Birmingham.
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conference → call → Birmingham
It unashamedly models itself on The Right Approach, produced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives in 1976.
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It → model → 1976
Thatcher, let’s remember, was in her early days dismissed by some in her party in similar terms to those once used to denigrate Kemi.
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’s → let → Kemi
She was said to be a limited, if practical, woman.
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She → say → ?
What her critics missed was her extraordinary ability to learn and develop.
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missed → miss → What
Kemi doesn’t sugarcoat the Tories’ 14 years in power.
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Kemi → sugarcoat → power
She writes: ‘Britain’s problems did not begin with the 2024 Labour Government.
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problems → write → Government
Some began under earlier Labour governments and became worse under Conservative ones.’
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Some → begin → ones
She is thinking of the defects I’ve alluded to: ever-higher taxes and welfare payments; wildly uncontrolled immigration; and a reckless, headlong rush towards Net Zero that damages economic growth, though she rightly concedes the reality of climate change.
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she → think → change
For many Kemi is the first true Tory leader of the party since Margaret Thatcher was defenestrated by lily-livered scoundrels nearly 36 years ago, writes Stephen Glover
Although specific policies are discussed, The Right Way is primarily a restatement of principles that have been shoved to the margins by a succession of Tory leaders.
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that → defenestrate → leaders
The malaise, writes Kemi, is both economic and cultural.
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Kemi → write → ?
‘Responsibility has been drained away from individuals, families, businesses and communities by a state that grows not because the public wants it but because fewer and fewer things are expected to happen without it.
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things → drain → it
There is nothing very original about The Right Way, yet it is a necessary restatement of old truths, and it lifted my heart.
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it → be → heart
Sadly, even sensible people have been affected by the collectivist values of our age.
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people → affect → age
One example: yesterday the BBC implicitly criticised Kemi’s promise to extend free childcare to couples who earn more than £100,000 a year.
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who → criticise → 100,000
I admit to being momentarily taken in by the Beeb’s insinuation that this was a concession to the rich.
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this → admit → rich
The present arrangements are a disincentive to work.
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arrangements → work → ?
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
