Kemi Badenoch's latest speech marked a stunning low point in her already dismal tenure as Tory leader. The Conservative party was on the cusp of imploding, with Badenoch seemingly hell-bent on ensuring its own destruction. Her message to MPs and activists? You're no longer welcome unless you hate immigrants just like her.
It's hard not to wonder if Badenoch genuinely believes she's doing the right thing. After all, who wouldn't want to alienate half their party and drive the other half into Labour or Reform arms? She claimed that the Tory party was "on a relentless march to the right", but this only served to further isolate her from mainstream Britain. The 40 MPs in attendance and 150 activists who loved being told they were irrelevant can't be seen as just loyal followers, more like tragic casualties of Badenoch's own making.
A speech so devoid of hope or light was akin to a death knell for any sensible aspirations the Conservative party might have had. The future looks bleak - a darkly comedic prospect indeed if one considers the prospects of Kemi taking advice from Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump on how far to go. No return to the 2006 version, a party that still managed to be respectable without being loathed.
Badenoch has taken the high ground - where she belongs. Her relentless assault on her own party's credibility has left many questioning whether the Conservative party is worth salvaging at all. The real tragedy lies not in Kemi's apparent desperation for attention but rather her inability to grasp that genuine success comes from unity, not division and xenophobia.
It's hard not to wonder if Badenoch genuinely believes she's doing the right thing. After all, who wouldn't want to alienate half their party and drive the other half into Labour or Reform arms? She claimed that the Tory party was "on a relentless march to the right", but this only served to further isolate her from mainstream Britain. The 40 MPs in attendance and 150 activists who loved being told they were irrelevant can't be seen as just loyal followers, more like tragic casualties of Badenoch's own making.
A speech so devoid of hope or light was akin to a death knell for any sensible aspirations the Conservative party might have had. The future looks bleak - a darkly comedic prospect indeed if one considers the prospects of Kemi taking advice from Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump on how far to go. No return to the 2006 version, a party that still managed to be respectable without being loathed.
Badenoch has taken the high ground - where she belongs. Her relentless assault on her own party's credibility has left many questioning whether the Conservative party is worth salvaging at all. The real tragedy lies not in Kemi's apparent desperation for attention but rather her inability to grasp that genuine success comes from unity, not division and xenophobia.