With an admiration perhaps bordering unsuitably on the amorous, I’m keen on the leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch. I wrote in the Spectator last year in an essay about her: “I’ve always liked being British but it feels somewhat wearisome to be one of our island race right now…when I see Kemi Badenoch’s beautiful face and hear her lovely voice – so completely free of doubt and fear in these doubting, fearful times — it kind of comes back to me.”

She sent me a lovely DM on X suggesting we go for a drink; in return, one drunken night I sent her a love poem, written by AI. She didn’t mention meeting up again. I still really like her, and with the Conservative Party conference approaching I’m thinking about her again — in a wholesome way, this time, with just a tinge of wistfulness. I like her for shallow reasons in a milieu where coolness is rarer than Having Had A Real Job.

Which she has done, by the way. Born in London but brought up in Nigeria before returning alone to England at the age of 16, she enrolled in a part-time course at college and worked at McDonald’s — “I didn’t really have any money to live” — before studying computer engineering. She did a law degree in the evenings and joined the Conservative Party “because it seemed interesting and fun and I wasn’t happy with the way the country was going.”

The country is going in a far worse way now, only a year after the “loveless landslide” of Labor, with Sir Keir Starmer becoming the most unpopular prime minister since records began. The Conservatives, whose annual parley starts today, should find it a cakewalk to power, and be smugly preparing for it. Instead they find themselves the proverbial spare at the wedding, with only 20 percent of the vote in popularity polls, as the cheeky populism of the Reform Party leaves them in third place.

Nigel Farage’s boys and girls in turquoise are set to wipe out both of the “respectable” parties at next spring’s local elections,  even in the historical nationalist/Labor strongholds of Scotland/Wales. Some commentators wonder whether Sir Keir can even hold on till then. It’s the biggest shake-up in British politics since the Labor Party won its first general election in 1923.

This time it’s the Conservative Party, sometimes called “the world’s most successful party,” having domestically dominated the 19th century and 20th century in a way no other party on earth has. It faces being replaced, with Labor being beaten into an official opposition role by Reform.

A new interview with Mrs Badenoch in the Spectator discloses the existence of  “a ‘Kemi countdown clock,’” counting the days until November 2, when the party rules mean she can be challenged for the leadership by Tory dissidents. Mr. Farage, for his part in hastening her downfall, has been frank about how inexperienced in government those who make up his party are; this could be seen to experienced Tories as a “come and get me.”

Especially those in government positions, who are pretty sure they’ll lose their seat next time and don’t want to be left standing there on the stage on election night with egg on their faces, which might then have to go into the recipe for humble pie from a much less advantageous position.

Doom casts aside, the interview makes me remember why I liked Mrs. B so much before the flashier Mr. Farage took on the role of official Labor-baiter; she’s tough, and cheeky, and regal. She inherited a party that frittered away 14 years of public trust, in government, pandering to the worst Woke demands of the Blob; how was she expected to push or pull that into any sort of shape in a few months? If she puts in a good performance at conference, there’s still hope; as the Spectator piece ends: 

“If the economy continues to stagnate and Labor fails to get a grip on migration, then more voters may well be susceptible to Ms. Badenoch’s pitch. But first she must show she can land blows on the men who stand in her way. Next week she enters the ring for the fight of her life.” Still apparently completely free of doubt and fear in these doubting, fearful times, if anyone can make the Tories seaworthy again, Kemi can.