To think Kemi Badenoch is starting to talk an increasing amount of sense

[Sonato]

Never voted conservative a day in my life.

Seriously comsidering it after recent performances

You genuinely believe mumsnet is a factor in how the government organises itself?! I literally can't comprehend that way of thinking.

Well yes of course it impacts policy but that’s a different point to the one I referred to. SM impacts how people vote and you’re not getting very far on that front, no one with Labour is.

Please stop clouding the truth with facts. Apparently it's only people eg reading broadsheets and scientific articles in periodicals that can have their views influenced. Social Media apparently, has no influence whatsoever.

I understand human behaviour - some people seek fact, some like echo chambers, some don't understand enough to form an opinion so seek out the opinion of others to latch on to. I don't disagree that there are plenty of people with no clue about politics that may be swayed by a stranger on the internet. I just personally couldn't imagine not wanting to source the info for myself - by nature I never really believe anything anyone else says on face value & certainly wouldn't form an entire political persuasion based on it.

Absolutely - but do - see my username

You’re kidding? You think a Minister at the Department for Business and Trade who supported Brexit had the faintest grasp of their brief? 🧐🫣🤣

Her performance in that role was absolutely dire. In my professional capacity I have the unfortunate task of meetings with the DBT Minister every so often and she was utterly clueless, no commercial or business acumen whatsoever and zero understanding of how trade operates. Peers who have similar meetings unanimously recount the same experience.

Reading a scientific article doesn't give someone a view. It gives them a fact.

Reading an opinion on Kier Starmer or Kemi Badenoch on mumsnet gives me no fact.

That's not really a clever statement you've made there. Of course people who don't want to think for themselves can be influenced by social media. But it's not like for like is it - comparing scientific journals and ramblings online.

Um ok. Apart from you of course most would recognise the impact of SM in 2026.

Oh dear - you didn't understand - never mind. We're not getting anywhere are we. Still - see my username.

Social media is full of misinformation

Well done Kemi, I thought she handled the heckler excellently. I'm impressed by her and was talking to a couple of friends who say similar.

Regardless of your party politics, how anyone has the stomach or appetite - nevermind pleasure ‘fun!’ - for more ‘psychodrama’ in politics is beyond me; although, I’m sure you’ll get your fill from the media and social media for weeks to come.

How is that relevant to the subject matter of the thread?

Pp will be posting unflattering photos of AR next. It is what they seem to enjoy. Most peculiar.

She is completely economically illiterate, and she also has the dangerous combination of a lack of intellectual curiosity, a huge but fragile ego that leads her to believe she is always right and knows more than everyone else and to have the arrogance which seems to make her incapable of admitting when she has made a mistake.

She takes disagreement with her as a personal insult. She lacks the intellectual flexibility to reconsider her views even when data demonstrates that she got something wrong and many have witnessed her unpleasant character traits, e.g. the numerous reports or her bullying junior staff.

Her emotional fragility in my opinion leads to this mask of a self-assured exterior which she desperately tries to project when in fact from personal experience away from the cameras she presents as being someone who is desperate to “prove” something, with a bit of a chip on her shoulder, hence the constant bandwagon jumping to try to make herself popular. Her priorities are her image and her own success at any cost and never having to admit she is wrong about anything. This rigidity makes her very closed-minded and blinkered and her lack of the intellectual capacity to understand long-term consequences, technical detail (which she appears to find too complex and frustrating) or broader policy interactions leaves her unable to adapt to changing circumstances or build consensus because she becomes very defensive if anybody challenges her.

These characteristics do not make for a good Prime Minister who will make considered, rational choices for the benefit of the nation. She doesn’t understand that her role is meant to be one of public service for the benefit of the country: Kemi’s “work” is all about how to promote Kemi and all other considerations are a distraction.

These are my observations and those of numerous others who have worked with her professionally and found her rather slow in intellectual terms, high maintenance and tiring to deal with as well as arrogant and uninspiring and actually quite lazy in terms of doing her job properly.

I disagree but look at the current PM who sacks people every time he is under pressure.

Look over here - there’s a squirrel!

Hopefully actually irrelevant pretty soon rather than PM 🤷‍♀️

Looking forward to Labour deciding what to do about their major issue dragging them down and out.

Absolutely. The fact it was off the cuff as well. I expect her having 3 children (youngest b.2019), helps her deal with hecklers and other politicians ...

I’m no fan of his either, although I don’t have personal experience of him as I’ve not had meetings with him.

Jonathan Reynolds and Peter Kyle are also both useless in their own ways, as was the procession of DBT Ministers under the previous administration.

Meetings with Kemi Badenoch were quite eye-opening, however, due to the discrepancy between her public presentation and the (unintentional, I’m sure) revealing of her weaknesses when her “camera mask” that she attempts to project during public appearances was not in place. This thread is about Kemi Badenoch’s capabilities specifically, so I haven’t provided a detailed view on other equally incompetent Ministers who have held the DBT post currently or previously.

I cannot see, given how the vast majority of the UK’s current problems boil down to economic mismanagement - because this underpins everything about prosperity, taxes, national debt and funding for services - how having somebody who demonstrated that they were incapable of the role as DBT Minister as Prime Minister so responsible for the overall strategy for the country, could possibly be beneficial.

Not that any of the alternatives are looking good: some, such as Farage, obviously would be catastrophically worse and flush what remains of the economy down the toilet. However, that doesn’t make Kemi look any more impressive. She is not. It is a sad state of affairs indeed that there is nobody competent to elect.

Imagine if Starmer hadn't quashed AB as a prospect - they'd have likely not lost the G&D seat AND they'd now have a viable alternative to Starmer (to those that like that sort of thing). But no. It's almost as if the petty politics of envy run through his veins, and Starmer didn't allow that to happen.

Yes speaking of fragility and ego below. That long post is more Starmer than anyone else.

Who would you recommend to vote for on the economy, or is there no-one?

Who is the least worst of a bad bunch?

Well I find the term "fan girling" applied to those with an opposing view to be demeaning and nauseating
Well, if you aren't intelligent enough to make a proper arg7ment, stoop to insults