Yes it was BOLD and uplifting, but on so many things Kemi’s merely catching up with Farage: STEPHEN GLOVER

Kemi Badenoch’s speech yesterday was one of the most uplifting speeches I have heard from a Conservative leader in years. I suspect most genuine Conservatives would feel the same.

Many of the policies we would like successive Tory governments to implement that have yet to be introduced – or if so, to a pitifully small extent – ​​were promised by Kemi in a tone that suggested he actually believed in them.

The tragedy is that he and his party may never have the opportunity to realize his vision. The reason is simple. Many of the ideas that hang seductively before us have already been embraced by Reform UK, of which the Conservative Party leader only glances at us.

It is no exaggeration to say that if the Conservatives had earlier adopted the policies that Kemi enthusiastically announced yesterday, there would have been no need for Reform to exist.

Nigel Farage has stepped into the political void created by the failure and weakness of the Conservative Party. Now that it has occupied this space, it will be extremely difficult for the Conservatives to take it back.

Almost everything Kemi said was welcomed. When he talked about the security of our borders, he was clearly talking about legal immigration and illegal diversity. The government of which he is a part has allowed immigration to rise to levels even Tony Blair could not approach.

A future Tory administration led by Kemi will withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, allowing it to resist challenges to its plan to deport 150,000 illegal immigrants a year. Why didn’t the Conservatives under Rishi Sunak have the courage to do this?

Kemi was a member of an administration that was barreling towards net zero without much thought about the impact it would have on the economy. He now bills himself as a ‘net zero skeptic’ who would not jeopardize economic growth. New oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, banned by Labor, will be encouraged.

Glover says almost anything Kemi says is welcome. When he talked about the security of our borders, he was clearly talking about legal immigration and illegal immigration.

He also promised to cut public spending by a significant £47bn a year; Most of this amount would come from reducing welfare and shrinking the size of the Civil Service to 2016 levels. I asked myself: Why didn’t the last Tory government do this when so many people, especially this newspaper, were shouting about it?

Half of the reduction in public spending will go to cutting taxes and the other half to reducing Labour’s ballooning deficit. This so-called ‘golden rule’ implies a level of caution that is not always evident in Nigel Farage’s announcements.

Banning doctors from going on strike is another bold idea; but it is an idea likely to be challenged legally by the profession. Even when the NHS was crippled by a junior doctors’ strike, Rishi Sunak’s government did not consider going this far.

Kemi’s resistance was the removal of stamp duty on main residences in England and Northern Ireland (Scotland and Wales have their own devolution regulations). This will free up the housing market while allowing young people to get on the housing ladder more easily.

However, the full benefit of getting rid of stamp duty will not be felt unless the Conservative Party manages to build many more homes; Although Labor has made many promises, so far it shows no signs of delivering.

The Conservative leader also struck a strong note on crime, saying it ‘represents a country where actions have consequences, where responsibilities are discussed as well as rights, where crime is punished and justice is delivered, where the welfare of victims outweighs the welfare of criminals’.

All this was encouraging. After the cautious, technocratic language we have heard from so many Conservative politicians in recent years, Kemi clearly intends to take the Conservative Party to places it has long dared not go. He offered what he called a new ‘deal’.

Of course there should be a warning. Conservative politicians at party conferences can get carried away and promise to do things they will completely forget once they enter government.

Perhaps the best example is George Osborne’s attempt to abolish, or at least greatly reduce, inheritance tax when he became Shadow Chancellor at the 2007 conference. Polls showed that most people welcomed the policy. However, during the 14-year government period, the Conservative Party made the burden of this tax even heavier by freezing the thresholds.

But let’s give Kemi Badenoch the benefit of the doubt and assume that if she becomes prime minister she will end stamp duty and do the other things she mentioned. In short, he would behave like the complete Tory he appeared to be yesterday.

Shadow cabinet ministers enthusiastically welcome Ms Badenoch’s conference speech

It was a good speech, and its sharpness suggests that those who wrote off Kemi may have acted prematurely. I must admit that after my recent doubts, I was impressed by him. Robert Jenrick and other potential successors will have to shelve their plans, at least for now.

The more pressing question is whether Kemi or another Tory will enter No 10 as prime minister in the near future. Although the speech was meaningful and exciting – and very well received by the party faithful – I doubt it will significantly boost the Conservatives’ prospects.

The truth is that on tax, welfare, immigration and more, Kemi is only keeping up with Nigel Farage. He is the leader of the Reform, which sets the agenda of the political right.

For example, do we really believe the Tories would have embraced the idea of ​​mass deportation of illegal immigrants if Farage (himself influenced by Donald Trump) had not done it first?

It’s true that the reform has not yet delivered a tax cut as well-judged and attractive as stamp duty, but it probably won’t be long before Farage comes up with something equally attractive.

It is also true that there is a detail in what Kemi said that is not always present in the speeches of the Reform leader – the sense that the policies are being worked out properly.

The truth is that the Conservatives allowed Farage to take over what was supposed to be their territory, and once he does that it will be extremely difficult to win it back. If they had been as solid as Kemi yesterday, there would have been no Reformation. They were not and are.

Of course, a lot can happen before the next election. Reform can destroy itself amid strife and contradiction. Creating a cohesive party is not easy. Meanwhile, the liberal media will scramble to find any evidence that Farage is unfit to be prime minister.

But as it stands, Reformation is at the political centre, and it will be very difficult for Kemi Badenoch, or any potential Tory leader I can think of, to unseat him. This may be Kemi’s tragedy.

If there’s one silver lining to be gleaned from Kemi’s speech, it’s that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to imagine two parties with similar policies falling out. Some sort of eventual alliance is absolutely inevitable.

I doubt the Conservative Party is doomed as the ruling party forever. At least for now, the clothes that are their right have been handed over to another political party that wears them with great conviction.