Last year’s Conservative conference, held in the aftermath of a crushing election defeat, was billed as a parade for leadership candidates to set out their recovery plans. The talent pool was shallow. The contest winner, Kemi Badenoch, said nothing to suggest she was equipped for the challenge of renewing her party as a potential force of government. So it has proved.
Mrs Badenoch goes into her first party conference as leader with the Tories in worse shape than they were in a year ago. Their opinion poll rating is consistently lower than the 23.7% they managed under Rishi Sunak in the general election. One MP has defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. More will follow if they don’t see a route back to power under their current leader.
