New leader 1) Badenoch says ‘Labour are repeating our mistakes and will fail’
“Kemi Badenoch said it was time for the Conservative Party to “start afresh” after she was elected as its new leader on Saturday. Mrs Badenoch won 53,806 votes from Tory members, defeating Robert Jenrick, her rival, who achieved 41,388 in the most closely-fought leadership contest of the modern era. Addressing staff at Conservative Party headquarters on Saturday, she said: “It took a lot of guts and a lot of courage for us to stick to the fact that we needed to renew before we started having a new manifesto for the next election. “That means there is all to play for. It means we can start afresh. It means that all of us can have a stake in the party.” – Sunday Telegraph
- Badenoch wins Conservative party leadership race – FT
- Shadow cabinet to reward loyalty and keep rivals close – Sunday Times
- Badenoch, symbol of a changing Conservative party and country – Sunday Times
- The culture warrior on a mission to rebuild a battered Tory party – FT
- Readers’ poll: have the Conservatives chosen the right leader? – Sunday Times
- ‘Mummy won and I’m very happy’ – she’ll give this country the kick up the backside it needs – Sunday Telegraph
- Labour challenges Badenoch to back billions for public services and tax rises – Observer
- ‘She’s a star’: Henley-on-Thames gives warm welcome (mostly) to Badenoch – Observer
- Hard to overstate challenges Badenoch faces as leader of the opposition – Observer
- I was in the room when Badenoch became Tory leader – there’s a reason it will rattle Labour – Sunday Express
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New leader 2) JK Rowling praises Badenoch’s ‘brains and bravery’
“JK Rowling has praised Kemi Badenoch’s “brains and bravery” in standing up for women’s rights after Mrs Badenoch was unveiled as the new Conservative leader. The Harry Potter author and Mrs Badenoch have both vocally opposed gender ideology, with the latter saying during her leadership campaign that a child cannot be trans. Rowling has voted Labour in the past but is a staunch critic of Sir Keir Starmer, accusing him and the party of “abandoning” gender-critical women such as herself. Responding to a suggestion that she would be “mad” about the result, Rowling posted on X, formerly Twitter: “On the contrary, I’m delighted a woman who’ll stand up for sex-based rights is now leading the opposition.” – Sunday Telegraph
New leader 3) Hannan: This is a seismic moment. Badenoch must reunite the Right – or we are doomed
“Do you think Lefties ever glance at the Conservative Party and ask themselves whether positive discrimination is everything it’s cracked up to be? Kemi Badenoch is the party’s second non-white and fourth female leader. And you know what? It’s no big deal. For Labour, which has only ever been led by white men, identity is everything. Rachel Reeves never misses an opportunity to say that she is the first woman Chancellor and that she should be a role model to little girls. David Lammy, miffed that he was not the first black Foreign Secretary, issued a statement about how proud he was to be the first working-class black foreign secretary from Tottenham (which, obviously, he is).” – Sunday Telegraph
New leader 4) Labour MP shares post saying Badenoch represents ‘white supremacy in blackface’
“A Labour MP shared a social media post accusing Kemi Badenoch of representing “white supremacy in blackface” shortly before Mrs Badenoch was elected as the new Tory leader. Dawn Butler appeared to endorse comments that also referred to Mrs Badenoch’s election as a “victory for racism”. The Brent East MP has since undone the repost and it is no longer on her profile on X, formerly Twitter. The post she shared came from Nels Abbey, a London-based Nigerian journalist, and was headed: Warning: Seven rules for surviving a Kemi Badenoch victory. It read: “Today the most prominent member of white supremacy’s black collaborator class (in Britain) is likely to be made leader of the Conservative Party. Here are some handy tips for surviving the immediate surge of Badenochism (i.e. white supremacy in blackface).” – Sunday Telegraph
Tory party membership slumps amid Reform UK threat
“The Conservative Party leadership election saw the lowest turnout since member voting was introduced. Just 72.8pc of eligible Tory members cast a ballot in a race that saw Kemi Badenoch crowned as the new Tory leader after defeating Robert Jenrick. It was also the lowest-ever number of votes cast for the winner of a Conservative leadership election since voting by members was allowed in 1998. At 56.6 per cent, this is the lowest vote share for a Tory leadership winner. In 2022, Liz Truss won with 57.4 per cent of the vote. Mrs Badenoch’s margin of victory – 13.1 percentage points – makes it the tightest Tory race on record. Ms Truss triumphed over Rishi Sunak by a margin of 14.8 points.” – Sunday Telegraph
Reeves plots pensions overhaul in push for growth
“Rachel Reeves is preparing to use her maiden Mansion House speech to set out plans to overhaul Britain’s pension fund industry, in an attempt to pump billions of pounds of investment into infrastructure and the London stock market. The chancellor’s reforms will be one of three key messages she delivers at the centrepiece City event this month to set Labour’s agenda for the economy, alongside measures to get “inactive” workers into jobs and strengthen the government’s new industrial strategy. The speech will be Reeves’s next big opportunity to flesh out her economic policies following last week’s contentious budget.” – Sunday Times
- Reeves loosens UK welfare spending target – FT
- I’ll get growth through reform of pensions and welfare, says Reeves – Sunday Times
- Inheritance tax raid ‘risks closure of family firms’ – Sunday Telegraph
- Do Labour’s hopes of a hydrogen-driven future hold water? – Sunday Times
- Labour union backer Unite starts legal fight over winter fuel cut – Sunday Times
- Brown’s tax break for entrepreneurs survives — but for how long? – Sunday Times
Comment
Kwarteng: My Budget was not perfect – but Labour’s is a Marxist nightmare
“Let’s be honest. This Budget is a step towards a more socialistic country. The Labour ministers have made no secret of their intentions. “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”. This is what Karl Marx wrote in The Communist Manifesto. That was in 1848. This Labour Government still, it would appear, believes this in 2024. By raising taxes on capital, on wealth creation and employers, while claiming to protect “working people”, Labour have revealed their hand in a brutal way. They have pitted one group of people against another, in a way that only socialists do.” – Sunday Telegraph
Chancellor under fire from Labour backbenchers over ‘impossible sell’ Budget
“Rachel Reeves is under fire from Labour backbenchers who have said her Budget is “impossible to sell” to “horrified” constituents. The Chancellor had promised that her maiden Budget would boost growth and “fix the foundations” of the economy. In public, Labour MPs have been at pains to show how pleased they are with the package unveiled last week, with one moderate MP from this year’s intake described the post-Budget debriefing meeting as “euphoric”. But in private, Ms Reeves’ Budget, which featured the biggest tax rises in a generation and the biggest increase in borrowing for decades, has prompted a fierce backlash.” – Sunday Telegraph
Harris takes unexpected lead over Trump in Iowa
“Kamala Harris has taken a surprise three-point lead over Donald Trump in Iowa, according to a survey taken by a respected pollster. The research, by Ann Selzer for the Des Moines Register, puts Ms Harris on 47 per cent of the vote in the state and Trump on 44 per cent. The result suggests that Iowa, which is considered a safe Republican state, is closer than analysts had previously expected. If the predicted swing towards Ms Harris in Iowa is accurate and is replicated nationally on Tuesday, she would win the presidential election by a landslide. The poll of 808 likely voters, who were surveyed between October 28 and 31, found a significant shift among older voters, especially among women over 65, who favoured Ms Harris by 63 per cent to 28 per cent.” – Sunday Telegraph
- Shock poll reveals Harris has taken the lead in key state – Mail on Sunday
