BITE SIZE: Kemi Badenoch needs to seize the agenda fast or may miss her moment

The public knows that Britain desperately needs a "next big thing" in politics but if Badenoch cannot show it is her then it will be Nigel Farage. The centre cannot hold.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

HOW is Kemi Badenoch doing as Leader of the Opposition? It may seem premature even to ask that question, but then again first impressions are important.

With two PMQs sessions under her belt, I think the answer must be that she’s doing OK, but has not yet succeeded in filling the vacancy to be the “next big thing” that British politics so obviously needs.

In her debut PMQs she beat Keir Starmer up a bit about things his top team had said about Donald Trump. It wasn’t a knockout win but a clear victory on points. Last week the picture was more mixed. Kemi stumbled over her words a couple of times as she attacked the impact of the Budget. She accused Starmer of not answering questions and just reading pre-scripted lines. He noted that she had read that accusation off a script of her own and his baying hordes of backbenchers loved that.

Elsewhere, Badenoch cropped up in a waxed jacket on a farm and has moved very professionally to position the Tories as the natural party of rural communities.

The Tories have had a little bit of a poll bounce since she became leader, averaging an uptick of maybe one or two points. The Tories scored 29 per cent in one survey, two points ahead of Labour on 27. Yet, let’s be honest, it’s been barely discernible.

The last new opposition leader to arrive with such a fanfare as to render the following general election a foregone conclusion was Tony Blair in 1994. Thanks to the political consultant Mark Pack’s indispensable data base, we can track the impact he had.