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Chris Mason: Badenoch is a fighter, and she needs to be to transform Tory fortunes Chris Mason: Badenoch will need all her political savvy to transform Tory fortunes
(about 3 hours later)
“She would cross the road to bite your ankles, whether you were goading her or not!” As the result of the Conservative leadership contest was read out, I was standing next to a group of MPs who have long backed Kemi Badenoch.
This is a remark from a long term admirer of Kemi Badenoch, delighted to see her win the Conservative leadership contest. There were gasps, hugs, even some tears.
It is a character reference you don’t have to look hard to find about the new leader of the opposition, seen as sharp, even abrasive, by her friends, let alone those who are less keen on her. Many of them speak of her in superlative terms, seeing her as uniquely able among her generation of Conservatives.
“She has real sparkle. It’s going to be fascinating seeing her taking on Starmer,” says another supporter. Why? They admire her conviction, her plain speaking, her big thinking.
The arrival of Kemi Badenoch as Conservative leader comes hard on the heels of Labour's first budget, completing a few days that will set the terms of political debate in the UK for years to come. “She has real sparkle. It’s going to be fascinating seeing her taking on Starmer,” says one of them.
A big personality with fresh impetus will now take her place in the arguments ahead. “We are going to have to get used to something quite novel,” another tells me. “That she will actually answer the question.”
What a contrast, the difference between victory and defeat. Badenoch will need every last bit of political savvy for the challenge she takes on.
For the winner, an official car to Conservative Party Campaign Headquarters, papers to sign, security briefings to digest and social media videos to film.
For the loser, trundling home in defeat.
Follow live: Conservatives elect new leaderFollow live: Conservatives elect new leader
Kemi Badenoch: Political scrapper set on 'governing right'Kemi Badenoch: Political scrapper set on 'governing right'
Badenoch now has the task of assembling a shadow cabinet to take on Sir Keir Starmer and the government. When the Conservatives were trounced in 1997 it took them four attempts to find a leader who would become Prime Minister.
Who might be shadow chancellor? William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard came and went, before they elected David Cameron.
Some are talking up Andrew Griffiths, the energetic shadow science secretary who has appeared to relish the daily challenge of scrutinising government. Westminster now anticipates a fascinating dynamic -- a forty something black woman taking on a sixty something white man.
Others point to former ministers Claire Coutinho or Laura Trott. Both Kemi Badenoch and Sir Keir Starmer are, of course, far more than these crude labels but it is a point of obvious demographic contrast it would also be a mistake to overlook.
Then there is the crucial role of chief whip – maintaining discipline in a parliamentary party famed for the opposite. Politically, the contrast is starker still: the self-described socialist prime minister and a conviction Conservative of plain speaking instinct.
Could Stuart Andrew, the man currently in the role, be kept on? “She would cross the road to bite your ankles, whether you were goading her or not!”
Will Robert Jenrick accept the role he is offered? This is a remark from a long term admirer of hers, delighted to see her win the Conservative leadership contest.
Let’s see. It is a character reference you don’t have to look hard to find about the new leader of the opposition, seen as sharp, even abrasive, by her friends, let alone those who are less keen on her.
Expect too to see early talk of a need for a change in the leadership rules to increase the proportion of the parliamentary party needed to trigger a confidence vote, to try to ensure the new leader can’t be too easily toppled. It is something she herself is well aware of.
For the last four months we have pretty much had a shadow shadow cabinet, a team bodged together by Rishi Sunak in the aftermath of defeat with the job of being caretakers until this moment. She told me just the other day on the BBC’s Newscast podcast that she was willing to tone down her approach.
But providing real, long term opposition is the mission now – starting with prime minister’s questions on Wednesday. I am told not to expect any appointments to her shadow cabinet immediately.
She will, though, make sure the key roles are filled in time for her leading her first shadow cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Kemi Badenoch was the favourite to win this contest, but it is worth pointing out Robert Jenrick ran her pretty close.
Not many folk a few years ago would have imagined he would be right in the thick of a leadership contest to the very end, as he was.
He showed a hunger and energy for the role that also sought to draw a contrast with her relative shyness in front of journalists.
Jenrick said yes to seemingly nearly every request; she was almost invisible to the wider electorate until the final few days.
How will Badenoch adapt to a role that is all about public argument and appearances – will she relish it or grow to loathe it?
“She’s up for a political fight with Starmer and my goodness it’s about time we had a fight with Starmer!” one of her supporters tells me.“She’s up for a political fight with Starmer and my goodness it’s about time we had a fight with Starmer!” one of her supporters tells me.
Plenty of their colleagues agree, but some caution that the Conservatives must not confuse early bumps for the new government with a sudden enthusiasm for the Tories.Plenty of their colleagues agree, but some caution that the Conservatives must not confuse early bumps for the new government with a sudden enthusiasm for the Tories.
“And are they actually prepared to be led?” asks one figure of Conservative MPs. “And are they actually prepared to be led?,” asks one Conservative MP.
“We were enthusiastically rejected. Kemi gets that it’s existential,” says the same observer, hoping the party shares this assessment.“We were enthusiastically rejected. Kemi gets that it’s existential,” says the same observer, hoping the party shares this assessment.
As I wrote just before the result, the last time the Conservatives were crushed in a general election and turfed out of office, in 1997, it took the party 13 years and four leaders to find a future prime minister. Her supporters privately acknowledge she is not yet the finished article -- as she takes on the hardest and most unforgiving job in politics; a four year interview for the role she really craves: prime minister.
Winning the only contest that really matters, a general election, from this starting point will be mighty difficult. Precedent suggests pulling that off will be mighty difficult.
But precedents are there to be broken and frequently have been in recent years.But precedents are there to be broken and frequently have been in recent years.
Kemi Badenoch’s task is to break another one.Kemi Badenoch’s task is to break another one.