Kemi Badenoch is hellbent on distinguishing herself in the battle to lead the Conservatives, but even she seems to realise how futile it all is
ave you ever played a party game called “Margaret Thatcher’s dinner party”? It may have other names. Each guest must think of a famous person, alive or dead, fictional or real, of whom the whole group will have heard. Everyone then goes out of the room, one by one, to whisper the name they’ve come up with to a designated host who writes them all down and then reads them out to the group. The aim of the game is to guess who thought of which name, the last person guessed being the winner.
I’m sure they’d all love to have been invited to a dinner party by Margaret Thatcher – though not of course one of the ones that was attended by Jimmy Savile. But one of the other ones with Norman Tebbit and Cecil Parkinson and, I don’t know, Lulu. Those were the days, they must all have been thinking last week as they shlepped round the Tory conference in Birmingham desperately trying to drum up a sense of excitement about themselves.
Badenoch is fighting a very energetic campaign, which is decent of her because it helps sustain the illusion that any of this matters, a psychologically helpful prop for all those people who turned up at the conference in the hope of a feeling of significance. But even she, just below the surface, can’t entirely avoid giving the impression that the stakes in this leadership contest are not enormously high.
Is that a culture? Not liking doing difficult things? Or is that just human nature? Then again, lots of people enjoy Sudokus and they can be tricky. It’s the issue of culture that’s her big pitch: she reckons immigrants need to leave their culture behind them, like shoes outside a mosque, and join in with British values. She talks a lot about those values without specifying what they are.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Some civil servants so bad they should be in prison, says Kemi BadenochTory leadership contender claims at party conference that a minority leak official secrets and undermine ministers
Read more »
Why did Kemi Badenoch attack maternity pay? Ask the Tory members …The Conservative leadership candidates are courting a selectorate who value narcissism and psychopathy. The competition is on to be the most outrageous, writes Zoe Williams
Read more »
Badenoch, Cleverly, Jenrick, Tugendhat: four ways for the Tories to reach the same wildernessEach behaves as if they are vying to be PM when the reality is years in opposition, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
Read more »
Cleverly Calls for Tories to Be 'More Normal' as Badenoch and Jenrick Woo Right WingJames Cleverly urges his party to be more grounded after a turbulent few days for rivals Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick. Badenoch received cheers for her attacks on net zero and identity politics, while Jenrick promises a 'New Conservatives' focused on traditional values.
Read more »
Badenoch says she’s a ‘huge fan’ of Elon Musk, as other Tory leader candidates decline to praise himThe billionaire owner of X has reportedly not been invited to Labour’s international investment summit next month
Read more »
‘Straight to YouTube’: fringe talks won’t be streamed live from Tory conferenceLow interest is challenging organisers, with business day tickets still not sold, speakers reluctant to engage and attenders dialling back their time
Read more »