3min chapter

Electoral Dysfunction cover image

What 'truths' will Kemi Badenoch be telling?

Electoral Dysfunction

CHAPTER

Navigating Leadership Challenges and Public Recognition

This chapter outlines the political evolution of a key party figure, focusing on three significant leadership phases and their impacts. It analyzes past challenges, critiques recent governmental efforts, and emphasizes the importance of enhancing public awareness of the politician's vision amidst ongoing national health service issues.

00:00
Speaker 3
Well, I think Keir Starmer had three phases. The first was to recognise the problems in the party and change the party. The second was to expose the fact that the Tories were not doing a good job in government. And the third was to show that we had an alternative for the future of this country. So he had three phases that he took us through. And the first one, which was a substantial period of time, was a profound critique of where the party had been under Jeremy Corbyn with impractical policies, driven with factionalism and anti-Semitism. So he spent quite a lot of time on that. I thought she did a good acceptance speech. I thought it was gracious, it was purposeful. And I was quite surprised when she said, not only, you know, we've got to be honest that there've been mistakes, but she said, we let standards slip. And I was quite struck by that because she hasn't said anything like that before. What does she mean by that? Is she referring to Boris Johnson and what was going on? So I think that we'll be interested to see how that plays out. And, you know, if you ever get to interview her, Beth, I'll be interested if you could ask her what she means by letting standards slip. I'd like to hear more about that. But, you know, as Ruth said, it's all to play for for her. And the Tories having had so much instability with five leaders in the last eight years, they will be wanting stability. They will be wanting her to succeed. So really, it's in her hands. It's not impossible that she can leap out from her inglorious period in government and become a better leader of the opposition than we anticipate her to be. But I think it would be a mistake to underestimate her.
Speaker 1
And she, as a politician, is not that well known. I mean, she came into Parliament seven years ago. She is Nigerian by descent. She was born in the UK, what, in 1980? So she's in her mid-40s, spent a lot of her childhood in Nigeria. She's effectively a libertarian who thinks the British state, in her words, is broken. She wants smaller government. She wants radical new ideas. Do you think that she's going to have a job, Harriet, whereby she needs to try and show the public who she is and, you know, just try and get an audience with the electorate. I don't know whether that means doing slightly softer interview profiles or documentaries or behind the scenes at her house. But do you think she has a job there to try and just introduce herself to the public? I mean, you know, Keir Starmer had been leader of the Labour Party for three years before the general election. I remember going up to constituencies and he would be there. I'd be like, do you know who that bloke is? And everyone would be like, haven't got a clue. Who is he? It's really hard just to be recognised. Is she going to have to do a bit of work on that and sort of hammer home who Kemi Badenock is? What everybody's interested in right now is what's going to happen to the health service in their local area.

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