Conservative Party nearly ran out of money, says Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch says the Conservative Party almost ran out of money when she took the leadership after its worst-ever election defeat.

Badenoch said he was taking over a party facing internal problems where donors were considering withdrawing funds after losing 250 seats in last year’s general election; this was the worst result in Conservative history.

Speaking to BBC news programme. To mark his first year as Conservative Party leader, Badenoch said he spent his first months “working furiously behind the scenes”, leading some to think his team was “doing nothing”.

However, Badenoch defended his view, saying, “Without money, a party cannot survive.”

Asked if there was a risk of the Conservatives going bankrupt, Badenoch said: “Yes there was.”

Badenoch did not say how close the party came to running out of money, but acknowledged there was a point when donors could walk away.

Speaking to the BBC, he told the BBC that keeping donors together “actually takes up a lot of my time” and that he wished he could spend “a bit more there”.

Badenoch insists the party is now on firmer footing and is starting to set a new policy agenda thanks to the foundations it has built in its first few months.

This work culminated in a blitz of policy announcements in his speech to the party conference in October, in which he outlined plans to end stamp duty and remove Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECtHR).

In a wide-ranging interview, Badenoch talked about learning on the job, including thinking of Prime Minister’s Questions “like a panto” rather than cross-examination.

The Conservative leader admitted that he initially spent a day preparing arguments and statistics, but realized people weren’t following what he was saying.

Badenoch said no matter how much he prepared, Sir Keir Starmer would dismiss his points as “nonsense”.

“I thought this wasn’t working,” he said.

“This is theater rather than a prosecution or interrogation.”

He argued that “the nature of British politics is that we will have a panto”, while political debates in other countries will have “other culturally appropriate parables”.

Instead, focusing on one thing during PMQs and “peeling it back like layers of an onion” allowed him to better study the prime minister.

Badenoch also denied rumors that his rivals were plotting against him.

Many senior figures, including former leadership rival Robert Jenrick and rising star Katie Lam, have hit the headlines for their interventions on issues such as banning the burqa and deporting immigrants.

Starting today, backbench MPs could potentially launch a vote to oust Badenoch, as the grace period preventing them from sending letters expressing distrust of Badenoch expires after his first year in office.

But Badenoch claimed he told colleagues to “go with their instincts” and share things they liked on social media to drum up support ahead of the party’s first conference.

“If this is a new policy line, make sure you check it so we don’t veer off in different directions,” he added.

But ahead of this month’s Budget, Badenoch said colleagues were focusing more on the party’s economic direction.

Reform Despite being the UK’s leading poll leader, Badenoch denied that Nigel Farage was the government’s main opposition, arguing that he was forcing major policy changes on gang grooming and the Winter Fuel Spend.

Stating that reform is an “existential threat” to every party, he added: “It is very clear that the reform has eliminated a lot of discontent, but discontent is not the policy of the government.”

He accused Farage’s party of reaching for headlines rather than substance and argued that Reform’s policies “do not stand up to scrutiny”.

His comments sounded like Farage He took back his party’s previous promise Tax cuts worth £90bn a year.

Speaking on Monday, Farage said “significant tax cuts” were currently “unrealistic” due to the “poor state” of public finances.