Kemi Badenoch - pros and cons

If I were a Tory I would be a little worried about her communication style-having to issue clarifications is not ideal. Being robust is not enough. She was unnecessarily churlish about Reeves too. And the McDonalds thing was dumb. But it's early days. Excellent hair, though!

I’m none too keen on small state, low taxes either. Particularly since we currently have the worst of both worlds - small state and high taxes.

Is there a difference between strong communicator and clear communicator? Because she's not a clear communicator which I think is a weakness in communication.

Yes. It takes any opposition leader a while to find their mark. But foreign affairs is a loser - people don’t vote on it. The economy is the thing

Pros

Down to earth
Worked in private sector
Strong communicator
Believes in small state and low taxes
Promotes individual responsibility rather than identity politics
Positive attitude to wealth creation

Cons

Lack of experience

To be fair to her she hasn't had that long to prepare, and Rishi has just been asking questions like "what will be prime minister be having for tea?" so not a lot prep to step into.

It was fairly a clear delivery. But the questions were not great and her briefing very shallow. Yes she is combative but I think the weakness is clear - without a strong briefing team and better questions, then it’s of little effect.

Starmer’s jibe about student politics landed. She also made an error in referring to the FTA with the US. That was something she failed to do herself.

i guess she needs to build her own support team and this will improve.

He can still answer a question without saying it's in the budget and jeering and all the carry on

It's up to him to answer not just defer

I agree the delivery was confident but I said the content was poor. She accused the government of committing to the 2.5% defence spend (despite starmer confirming in the sentence before they were), and that there was no mention of defence in the budget when the 2.5% commitment and spending increase. Maybe she has taken lessons from the Johnson school of thought.

BBC political editor would disagree with you "punchy and confident"
Anyway beats robotic Starmer et al with their pre programmed 1 stock sentence answer to everything

Really? She was just reading out the questions. She had prepped that he wouldn't confirm the defence spending then when he did she just read out the same response that he hadn't. Confident delivery but hopefully the content will improve with time.

She is doing a great job for her first PMQ. Polar opposite from robotic Starmer/Reeves/Raynor/Phillipson.

Great first day, not many can start that well

I had to turn him off, all that jeering, it's repulsive

Maybe he's feeling it after Trump won, or maybe he really is that myopic to think it doesn't matter

Making a brilliantly strong start on her first PMQs.

I expect nothing less from the communists on the left

I was appalled by her comments on maternity pay and am appalled by her terrible shadow cabinet selections. However she has time to grow into the role and I hope she makes a great success of it (while drifting away from the right and towards the centre right).

It is a shallow pool. Chris Philp as Home Sec shadow!

The Conservative party was in much better shape in those days though. It isn't comparable, and none of the candidates are especially capable of getting it back on its feet.

@HappiestSleeping "I think she's only a caretaker leader until they regroup in the same way William Hague was. IDS and Michael Howard "

And the way Margaret Thatcher was-she just didn't follow the rules.....🤣

She may surprise us but what is left of the Conservatives is very right wing. It doesn’t suggest much of a template to move to the centre. When you look at her shadow cabinet it suggests more of the same

Badenoch is Trump politics just a focus on the negative and pessimism.

Absolutely this! I was at a family get together with my siblings in laws, so quite a few late 60s, early 70s, all residents of the south east and all previously Tory voters bar one and not one of them voted for the Conservatives in the last election. One has even become a paid up Lib dem member, all for the same reasons, the move from the centre to the right. These voters want to hear about public services and the economy not endless focus on 'the boats' or worse rowing back on climate change commitments.

Yep. She keeps disagreeing with herself. She's is the gift that keeps on giving.

I quite like her but she is a lightweight in national terms. The comparisons with Thatcher are ridiculous, people forget (or are not aware) just how quick witted and persuasive she was and the power with which she spoke.

Simply by being elected Badnoch has exposed the racist views of some labour ministers and supporters who are outraged that a black woman has the temerity not to hold the views they demand she should. Not a peep from the labour leadership about their minister’s racism.

So there’s that…