Kemi Badenoch has been accused of already throwing in the towel before next week’s local elections.
The under-fire Tory leader conceded the results will be “very difficult” for her party as experts predict hundreds of Conservative councillors will lose their seats. But she went on to claim it was a positive thing that newspapers are no longer filled with stories of Tory squabbling.
Ms Badenoch told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “We lost last year in a historic defeat. These elections next week are going to be very difficult for Conservatives because the last time we fought them [2021] we were on a high.
“Two-thirds of the seats four years ago, we won. There’s no way we’re going to be able to do that again.”
The Tory chief also bizarrely claimed stories of Conservative infighting and rows no longer existed. She said: “I think the biggest thing that people will notice is if you picked up a paper this time last year you would have been reading about Tory rows and infighting.
“All of that is gone.” The Conservative Party leader made an apparent nod to the danger of Nigel Farage’s Reform when she said that “protest parties” are doing well.
And she admitted it could take some time before the Conservatives are able to give the public a “credible offer”. Ms Badenoch said: “Protest is in the air – protest parties are doing well at the moment.
“It’s really important that we take time to get things right – rebuild trust with the public and have a credible offer. I’m not saying everything we did was correct – that’s why we’ve seen support for other parties.”
The comments were seized on by the Lib Dems, who accused her of giving up. Deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: ” Kemi Badenoch has already thrown in the towel before a single vote has been counted in next week’s local elections.
“The Conservative Party doesn’t have any answers on the big issues facing the country, because their fingerprints of failure are all over them.”
Ms Badenoch has been criticised for her muddled position on Reform UK. She has ruled out a national merger, but opened the door to Tory and Reform councillors entering formal agreements to lead councils. Ms Badenoch said such arrangements would need to be “right for the people in their local area”.
But Mr Farage hit back by saying his party had “no intention” of forming coalitions with the Tories at any level after the May 1 elections.
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