A no-nonsense woman in her forties with a background in science emerges from the fringes of the party to become leader. Regarded by many as “difficult” and “abrasive”, this young mother believes self-discipline, hard work and an iron will are key to success. Supporters adore her for being a “fresh voice” amid the mediocrity of colleagues. She sets about redefining Conservatism.
It’s like 1975 all over again. Or is it? Time will tell whether Kemi Badenoch can delight and unite the Conservative faithful as Margaret Thatcher did, or whether she is just the next cab off the Tory leadership rank. The key to Badenoch’s success or failure will lie in part in whether she is able to emulate Thatcher’s brilliance at media management. So far, that appears unlikely.
Few leaders have understood as well as Thatcher the importance of image: the hair, the handbag, the suits, the photo stunts riding on a Union Jack-bedecked tank or wearing that garish European flags jumper. She was a pioneer of modern political communications.
In contrast, Badenoch has struggled to hide what appears to be irritation at journalists with their pesky habit of reporting her words as she says them, resulting in rows and row-backs over maternity leave, autism and the minimum wage. Over the summer, repeated requests for broadcast interviews were snubbed.
One Daily Mail executive relays how when Badenoch was asked to do an interview for the Tory title during an earlier leadership contest, she responded: “No. I don’t like your paper.” Perhaps now she has heeded the advice of Thatcher’s press officer, Bernard Ingham, who told his boss in 1987: “Look after the Daily Mail.” The new Conservative leader’s media strategists say she will be talking to present, past and future Tory voters through the Mail, Telegraph and Express. But, the aide insists, “she is a very serious woman and is totally unapologetic for being serious”. She won’t be popping up on the TV rounds – or atop a Challenger tank – unless she has something specific to say.
Like Thatcher, Badenoch is unbothered about acting in ways deemed divisive or that attract criticism. Now she has grasped the reins of power, will she go full-on Mrs T? “I don’t think her directness will be a problem for Kemi, just as it wasn’t for Thatcher,” the aide said. “And I can’t help but think there is a level of misogyny in this claim. While a man may be regarded as authoritative, a woman who acts similarly is regarded as knobbly or difficult. She is fresh and exciting and has the guts to take the difficult decisions. She is the real deal – a new Thatcher.” A thought that will strike many with horror, others with joy.
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There’s a new twist in the Observer sell-off drama as it emerges a group of super-rich lefties are interested in bidding for the title. The consortium, believed to include the multi-millionaire Labour donor and green energy investor Dale Vince, is apparently unhappy that the Guardian Media Group (GMG) has committed to exclusive talks with digital start-up Tortoise.
Even more unhappy are staff who are “incandescent” that hours after they overwhelmingly voted to go ahead with a formal ballot on industrial action they received a “threatening” email from the GMG chief executive, Anna Bateson, warning them that if the sale was derailed, there could be worse trouble ahead. Bateson, who has reportedly holidayed on a £15m superyacht and at the ski resort Val d’Isère with the Tortoise co-founder James Harding, told staff: “The status quo is not an option.”
She continued: “We want to be plain about this because we all have a responsibility to be honest about the growth prospects of a UK-only, Sunday print title when it is competing with investment in the future of the Guardian.”
“That email has gone down very, very badly with staff,” said one insider. “Management have quickly gone from ‘this is a great opportunity’ to: ‘if you don’t shut up and accept this, things are going to get very bad for you, very soon.’”
Then, on 1 November, the Guardian editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, emailed staff following the furore over the Washington Post’s non-endorsement in the US election. She wrote: “For many years, I’ve tried to explain to people why the fact that the Guardian does not have a proprietor is so important.” That intervention had the irony klaxon ringing at the Observer.
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Ofcom’s patience with GB News finally ran out when it slapped a £100,000 fine on the broadcaster for breaking due impartiality rules in a pre-election “people’s forum” show with Rishi Sunak. GB News, which has broken Ofcom rules 12 times since 2021, is taking legal action against the judgement, claiming it’s an assault on free speech. No doubt bosses also have an eye on the station’s finances; it lost £42m last year.
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The revolving door between the Tory party and Daily Telegraph swings again. The former Conservative treasurer and rail minister Mohamed Mansour (knighted in the dog days of Rishi Sunak’s premiership) is reported by Sky News to be in talks to fund a bid for the Telegraph. Billionaire Mansour, who has donated £5m to the Conservative Party, could provide the final chunk of money needed by the New York Sun owner Dovid Efune to get his consortium’s offer for the title over the line.
[See also: In America, women are disposable]
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This article appears in the 07 Nov 2024 issue of the New Statesman, Trump takes America