Monday was an interesting day for the right in British politics. While Nigel Farage was holding a press conference in Westminster to announce the defection of 29 councillors to Reform, Conservatives were gathering at the Guildhall for the Remaking Conservativism conference, hosted by the Centre for Policy Studies. A broad range of speakers were happy to opine on the challenges facing the Conservative Party today, from the co-author of the 2019 Tory manifesto Rachel Wolf to the economic historian and fan of Javier Milei Niall Ferguson, and – for ten minutes right at the end, briefly disrupted by two protesters – the Conservative leader herself.
Kemi Badenoch didn’t say all that much in her speech, beyond rehashing her upbringing in Nigeria and appreciation of Margaret Thatcher. No doubt she was saving her best lines for today, when she will launch the start of her party’s policy development process – beginning by taking aim at net zero (or, at least, trying to achieve it by 2050).
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