Lord Hague has said Kemi Badenoch has a better chance of becoming prime minister than he did, with the new Conservative leader facing a similar situation to her predecessor following Labour’s landslide victory at the 2024 general election.
Lord Hague was elected Conservative Patty leader in 1997 following Tony Blair’s victory in the general election of the same year, in which the incoming prime minister won a 179 seat commons majority with 43.2 per cent of the vote.
The Conservative Party under John Major’s leadership was reduced to 165 seats, down 178 from the 1992 general election.
With Lord Hague as leader, the Conservative Party went on to lose the 2001 general election after it only increased its seat total by one seat to 166.
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Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday morning, Lord Hague was asked if Kemi Badenoch, the newly elected Tory leader, is better placed today than he was in 1997.
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The former foreign secretary replied that Badenoch has “a good chance” of winning but noted “some similarities” to the period after the 1997 election.
Lord Hague said: “The Conservatives have had a very, very heavy defeat — even heavier than the time just before I took over.
“On the other hand, it’s a much more competitive political situation”, he added, noting that he was up against Blair “at the height of his power, where everything was going well in the world.”
Lord Hague went on: “The Labour government is already unpopular after its first few months. So there’s a much stronger chance, I think, of Kemi Badenoch becoming a Conservative leader who becomes prime minister than there was for me.”
The former Tory leader added that Badenoch has “a very sensible, well-judged emphasis on explaining her values and principles first, before rushing into a lot of policies when we’re still four years from another election.”
Badenoch was elected Conservative leader earlier this month after defeating former immigration minister Robert Jenrick in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak.
Badenoch won 53,806 votes (56.6 per cent) to Jenrick’s 41,318 (43.5 per cent). The election had a turnout of 72.8 per cent, with 131,680 eligible electors (Conservative Party members).
The contest followed Sunak’s resignation as Conservative leader after the party under his leadership was reduced to 121 MPs at the July general election.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on X/Twitter here.
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