The Tory leader has Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves in her sights (Image: Getty)
Kemi Badenoch is on a mission to become Keir Starmer and worst nightmare.
She wants to paint the Labour Government as deranged and arrogant and convince the country to give her– and not Reform UK’s – the job of Prime Minister.
In her latest speech she blasts the Chancellor for “mad and bad” ideas and condemns the Prime Minister as a man who “doesn’t believe he’s ever made a mistake”.
This attack on the two most powerful Labour figures follows two high-risk interventions which paid off.
First, she put the full weight of her party behind calls for a national inquiry into the grooming gang scandals. Sir Keir lambasted this as a naked act of bandwagon-jumping but she tapped into countrywide concern.
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When major Labour figures such as Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and Rotherham MP Sarah Champion back an inquiry, Mrs Badenoch is not a fringe voice.
Second, the Tory leader called at the weekend for Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq to be sacked after she was named in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh. On Tuesday Ms Siddiq was out – and there were questions why it took Sir Keir took so long to realise it was untenable to keep his anti-corruption minister in post.
After a relatively quiet arrival in the role of Leader of the Opposition Mrs Badenoch is now making an impact, demonstrating good judgement on issues that matter.
But this does not mean she should ask civil servants to send her the measurements of the Downing Street curtains.
Mrs Badenoch knows millions of Britons are furious at Labour for the state of the economy and its treatment of pensioners and farmers. But she will also be aware this is not enough to guarantee the a return to power at the next general election.
She needs to make sure that voters who want to oust Sir Keir and rally around the and not Mr Farage and Reform UK. This week’s YouGov poll demonstrated the scale of the challenge.
Despite all the woes facing Labour it remains the most popular party (26 per cent), with Reform the choice of one in four voters and the languishing on 22 per cent.
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Mrs Badenoch will not revive the as an election-winning force simply by scoring points against Labour. She must win the trust and support of an electorate who will vividly remember the Tory civil war over , the chaos of partygate and the hike in costs that followed Liz Truss’s Budget – not to mention how immigration rocketed on their watch.
The Tory leader admits in her latest speech that her party made “mistakes” but she must do more than win forgiveness. She must persuade Right-leaning voters to join a reborn Conservative movement.
The competition with Reform is intense. Mr Farage and his colleagues embrace former Tory and Labour voters who feel let down by the traditional parties of power.
While Labour and Conservative conferences are expensive to attend and awash with lobbyists, Reform cultivates a festival atmosphere at rallies across the nation. If traditional Conservative voters who will never be on the guest list for corporate receptions at a Tory conference find they are welcome in Reform ranks, they may well become footsoldiers in upcoming elections.
The real danger to Mrs Badenoch is that talented people who have what it takes to be a brilliant MP sign-up with Reform rather than the . If the David Camerons or Boris Johnsons of future decades will not join the the party is in true trouble.