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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Frances Ryan

I’m not buying into the ‘Keminaissance’. If the Tories lowered the bar any further, they’d be Reform UK

Kemi Badenoch visits an Oil States Industries site in Aberdeen, Scotland on 5 June 2026.
Kemi Badenoch visits an Oil States Industries site in Aberdeen, Scotland on 5 June 2026. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Kemi Badenoch is considering doing her job. With her second Conservative party conference as leader looming on Sunday, and her rival Nigel Farage finally losing some ground, the provocateur with a reputation for dodging media rounds and being ill-prepared for briefs has seemingly cured her camera shyness.

In recent days, Badenoch has touted a policy to give the unemployed a “subsistence allowance” that would prevent them from buying booze or cigarettes, sought to bar benefits from young people who are straight out of school, accused Andy Burnham of wanting to take Britain “back to the 1970s” with public control of utilities, and enjoyed some mixed polling.

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