Kemi Badenoch is giving Starmer kicking he deserves – she’ll have one hope this Christmas | Politics | News

Conservative leader Kemi Bandenoch should head into Christmas on a springing foot, given her stellar performances over the last few months. Even the most strident conservative commentators cannot avoid admitting that the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition has not only found his feet but is covered in steel-capped boots that have rightly given this terrible government the kick it deserves.

It has been a difficult journey since he became leader of the Conservative Party in November 2024. In the first few months of his leadership, he seemed elusive, almost invisible. Critics claimed he would be unemployed by the middle of this year following the coup in local council and mayoral elections.

Conservative defeats in these elections were not a huge surprise, but the losses were already priced in. A miraculous change of fortunes at the local polls was never going to happen in less than a year, given the massive crush the party received in the July 2024 general election.

It was always the case that his critics used these results as another reason to say that he was not the right leader for the Conservative Party, as any setbacks or stumbles might occur in the early days of his leadership.

We have since discovered that Kemi prioritized meeting party donors in the first months after winning the leadership election and was strategically in the right place to do so. He was arguably right to reassure party donors of his plans and set them aside, even though he was not very visible to the public.

Politics is nothing without money and for those without deep pockets. Labor has always benefited from the financial support of unions, but other political parties do not have such a luxury.

So Kemi’s decision to fundraise such a significant amount has paid off, as donation records for the year show that the Conservative Party has received significant financial support from those willing to support the new leader at a time when the party is still trying to recover from a historic general election defeat.

With the money men firmly united, time has been spent over the last few months increasing the amount of media business and it has paid off. Her excellent interview with JJ Anisiobi on the Daily Expresso podcast in September revealed a side of Kemi Badenoch we hadn’t seen before: humour, warmth and a mischievous personality were on display.

So much depended on his speech at the Conservative Party conference in October, and it was sad to be aware of those who wanted him to fail so they could once again say he was the wrong choice of leader. But they were the ones at fault.

I was in Manchester for most of the conference and on the first night there were commentators and others consigning Kemi to the history books and questioning whether the party had a future. But he bucked that with a speech that exceeded expectations and outlined policy proposals that suggested the party had finally rediscovered its conservative roots.

He was ably supported by a Shadow Cabinet that included Sir Mel Stride, Andrew Griffith, Chris Philp, Robert Jendrick, Kevin Hollinrake, Laura Trott and other members punching well above their weight, and the Conservatives felt as if they had turned a corner.

It’s fair to say that Kemi’s early performances in the dispatch box were stringent at best, with no clear strategy or direction, but that has now thankfully changed. Her masterful response to last month’s Budget chaos saw Chancellor Rachel Reeves looking stunned and bewildered. This was one of the biggest political moments of 2025 and gave Tory faithful more red meat

Kemi’s latest run at Prime Minister’s Questions left Sir Keir Starmer with nowhere to hide, which is true for a Prime Minister with one of the worst approval ratings in history. Starmer and Co. he can no longer blame the Conservatives for the failures of this country or the state of the economy. They have been in office for a year and a half and they need to start taking responsibility for their actions.

The Conservative leader and the British public know this very well, so he is right to highlight Labour’s failures at every opportunity. After a bumpy start, Kemi Badenoch has come into her own and it’s a joy to witness. The best gift he can hope to receive this Christmas is the Conservative Party, which collectively agree that he is the right leader for the difficult times ahead.