← News
Topic · Person

Kemi Badenoch

76 articles

See also
Andy BurnhamBirminghamReino UnidoNigel FarageThe GuardianBBCBrexitIsrael
📰

Latest Kemi Badenoch articles

The Guardian view on Conservative conference: struggling to break out of the comfort zone | Editorial

The Guardian view on Conservative conference: struggling to break out of the comfort zone | Editorial

Kemi Badenoch’s personal brand is not strong enough to revive a party that so thoroughly lost the trust of the British people For a party that keeps losing elections, the Conservatives have enjoyed a remarkably upbeat conference in Birmingham this week. A party with a strong regicidal impulse is united behind Kemi Badenoch. Opinion polls show the leader’s personal ratings, while not spectacular, outperforming the wider Tory brand. Mrs Badenoch exuded confidence in her keynote speech on Wednesday, setting out what she believes is a path back to power. The strategic focus is the economy. The Conservative leader expects Andy Burnham’s honeymoon to come to an end when his chancellor delivers a painful budget later this month. A spending review will then compound the pain, forcing grim trade-offs on a prime minister who has a reputation for deferring hard choices. Continue reading...

Andy BurnhamBirminghamKemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Badenoch’s inheritance tax gambit makes no economic sense

Badenoch’s inheritance tax gambit makes no economic sense

The Tory leader’s proposal to slash the tax would shovel £6bn of taxpayer money to the already-wealthy Kemi Badenoch’s inheritance tax gambit is a Conservative classic. After all, it was George Osborne’s high-profile pledge to “take the family home out of inheritance tax” in 2007 that put Gordon Brown off calling a snap general election. In practice, Osborne’s plan involved a £1m threshold for inheritance tax – and given the global financial crisis had blown a hole in the public finances by the time the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition came to power in 2010, it never came to pass. Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
M&S Kemi: can the Tory leader win over core vote? – podcast

M&S Kemi: can the Tory leader win over core vote? – podcast

Kemi Badenoch has promised to ditch inheritance tax on family homes if elected as prime minister, leading to criticism that she is prioritising the rich over the poor. Plus, the pollster and UK director of More in Common, Luke Tryl, joins Pippa and Kiran to give an overview of how all the parties are doing Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
All hail the Kult of Kemi – captain, coach and owner of the Conservatives | John Crace

All hail the Kult of Kemi – captain, coach and owner of the Conservatives | John Crace

The Tory leader is now too big for the party to allow her to fail, so everything she does is acclaimed a work of genius Where’s AI slop when you need it? It could all have been so much simpler. Just ask ChatGPT to write me a leader’s speech in the style of Kemi Badenoch. Make it an hour and 10 minutes long, so plenty of room for padding. Go heavy on the slogans, cliches and the obligatory crap politician jokes. Ones we’ve all heard many times before. Not least at this conference. Make the usual digs at Labour and put the boot in to Reform. The main aim of the speech is to try to reposition a party that is tanking in third place on 20% in the polls as the main opposition to the government. And just to give everyone a reason to go home with a feeling of mild optimism, chuck in a retail offer at the end. An uncosted tax cut for people who are rich but don’t feel quite rich enough. The new multimillionaire common-or-garden lower middle classes. Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Badenoch made the best of it – but the Tories still have a mountain to climb before any hope of No 10 | Henry Hill

Badenoch made the best of it – but the Tories still have a mountain to climb before any hope of No 10 | Henry Hill

Conference announcements on inheritance tax and childcare boosted the party’s mood, but the task is still holding off Reform, rather than any realistic bid for power On paper, the traditional role of the journalist at a British party conference boils down to some simple questions: what was the mood of the assembled activists? Did the leader give a good speech? In practice, the changing nature of conferences and the media makes this superficially simple task more complicated than it may initially appear. Any journalist covering the leader’s speech, for instance, will have watched it in full. But it will reach the vast majority of its intended audience in fragmentary form, through clips – and speeches are increasingly written with that reality in mind. The conference hall is not really the audience, or the full speech really the product. This adds a layer of complexity to the reviewer’s task. Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
‘All me’: Tory party riding high on Kemi Badenoch’s wave of popularity

‘All me’: Tory party riding high on Kemi Badenoch’s wave of popularity

At Conservative conference, some worry about becoming a one-woman party, while others say party should thank their lucky stars they have her UK politics live – latest updates Kemi Badenoch has long said that the Conservatives were “under new management”, but in a TV interview to mark the end of a party conference at which she has been front and centre of more or less everything, she took the analogy further. “Your viewers will know that sometimes you have a football team that’s disappointing,” the Tory leader told GB News. “There’s a new captain, there’s a new coach, there’s a new owner, effectively – which is all me.” Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Tories accused of prioritising rich voters as Badenoch lays out inheritance tax cut plan

Tories accused of prioritising rich voters as Badenoch lays out inheritance tax cut plan

Party hopes to win over affluent middle-class voters as Badenoch rejects calls to ‘unite the right’ in conference speech UK politics live – latest updates Kemi Badenoch has announced the Conservatives would abolish inheritance tax on family homes if elected, prompting immediate criticism that she was prioritising cutting taxes for the rich. The Tory leader also said that couples would be able to leave behind an additional £1m tax-free to their families, as the party attempts to shore up its traditional base in southern England. Continue reading...

EnglandKemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
📰

Will Tory donors splash the cash?

It’s Kemi Badenoch’s big day at the Conservative Party conference – but it’s not just the adoring party faithful she has to impress. Sam Coates and Anne McElvoy look at how the leader’s speech will land with both voters and party donors – in what she’s calling a “battle for the soul of the country”. […]

Kemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byPOLITICO Europe
Who is in charge of the budget?

Who is in charge of the budget?

The ‘Burnham Bounce’ is extending Labour’s lead in the polls – so are the Conservatives anywhere near ready to challenge? Sam Coates and Anne McElvoy unpack the latest polling numbers, and what they mean for Kemi Badenoch as the party struggles to define its offer on the economy, triple lock and social care. Back in […]

Kemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byPOLITICO Europe
Badenoch to announce plan to cut inheritance tax and claim UK faces ‘battle of ideas’ over spending – UK politics live

Badenoch to announce plan to cut inheritance tax and claim UK faces ‘battle of ideas’ over spending – UK politics live

Conservative leader will deliver her keynote speech to Tory conference later Good morning. Kemi Badenoch is expected to announce cuts to inheritance tax (IHT) this morning in a keynote conference speech that will claim the next election will be a “battle of ideas” between a government spending ever more money, and a Conservative party determined to make the state live within its means. The Tories have not confirmed that inheritance tax cuts will be proposed. Equally, they have done nothing at all to quash speculation that Badenoch will make an announcement along these lines, to the point where it is now hard to see how she can deliver a speech that does not mention IHT without causing huge disappointment to her supporters. IHT is set to raise £15bn a year for the Treasury by the end of the decade, and Badenoch is expected to propose cutting it rather than getting rid of it completely. There is a fight coming in British politics. A fight that we have not seen in this country for more than half a century. Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Tories delight as satirical tapestry pokes fun at ‘turncoat’ Robert Jenrick

Tories delight as satirical tapestry pokes fun at ‘turncoat’ Robert Jenrick

Reminders of banished Reform UK defector were all around the Conservative party conference in Birmingham As Kemi Badenoch basked in the applause of the Tory faithful at the close of her pivotal speech at Conservative party conference last year, one member of her shadow cabinet looked less than enthused. Robert Jenrick, bested by Badenoch in the leadership contest a year earlier, looked on, and – as one shadow cabinet member now recalls – had to be prodded by Lord Ashcroft to applaud. “If you’re plotting against someone, then you at least pretend to like them,” they say. “The thing about Robert is he’s not even a good machiavellian.” Continue reading...

BirminghamKemi Badenoch
Oct 7, 2026 · byThe Guardian
Kemi Badenoch is the most rightwing leader in Tory history. Isn’t it time she got some actual scrutiny? | Owen Jones

Kemi Badenoch is the most rightwing leader in Tory history. Isn’t it time she got some actual scrutiny? | Owen Jones

Farage’s scandals have allowed Badenoch to get her party back in the race. But her programme would be no less ruinous for our country The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, will march on to the conference stage in Birmingham feeling buoyed. “Kemi’s soaring,” coos the Sun , and that sums up the prevailing wisdom. More than four in 10 Britons think she is doing well as Tory leader, compared with a third who think otherwise. As Nigel Farage’s stock has plummeted thanks to scandals over a £5m personal gift and donations from crypto billionaires , the polling suggests that the Conservatives could regain the mantle of Britain’s main rightwing force. Yet Badenoch has been the beneficiary of circumstance. Her tenure as opposition leader has been defined by Keir Starmer’s project imploding almost as soon as it gained power. When Reform UK enjoyed its seismic polling lead, the Tory plight was double-edged: they were starved of attention, but that inevitably resulted in a lack of scrutiny, too. It has been easy for Badenoch to appear formidable while her opponents have disintegrated. Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

BirminghamKeir StarmerKemi Badenoch
Oct 6, 2026 · byThe Guardian