Kemi Badenoch

UP here at the Tory Party conference in Manchester, comparisons between Kemi Badenoch and United’s Ruben Amorim write themselves. 

Two gaffers tasked with getting a once-formidable colossus back to winning ways — and both finding that nothing they do seems to work. 

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Supporters who long for the glory days of old are solemn, and the dressing room is fast losing faith. 

Both watch enviously as their gloating rivals in light blue continue to shine. 

Both beg for more time. 

After her bullish conference speech ­yesterday, Badenoch has bought herself that time. 

It was well delivered and she hit the right notes on the economy, welfare, crime and immigration. 

Her pledge to abolish stamp duty should also prick the ears of voters who until now have not been paying her ­attention. 

As an exercise in corralling despondent Tory members and seeing off any immediate leadership threat, it’s job done, Kemi. 

Back down to Earth 

Much the same can be said of Sir Keir Starmer’s run out in Liverpool, where he successfully united his party against their common enemy, Nigel Farage. 

He too delivered an address lapped up by his grassroots to the extent the prospect of impending mutiny melted away. 

The North West has been kind to them both, and they appear stronger. 

But the crashing thud of reality awaits them back in Westminster, where the mirage of the past fortnight will soon be shattered. 

Party conferences are bubbles frozen in time, and it is easy to be suckered into believing a leader has played a blinder just because their own side cheers them to the rafters. 

Both Badenoch and Starmer now need to come back down to Earth and confront some home truths. 

The first is that Nigel Farage is still leading the polls by a mile, opening up a 12-point gap according to More In ­Common.

May’s local elections are almost certain to be bloody, with the party at risk of ­falling to a humiliating fourth in both Wales and Scotland. 

Labour’s conference failed to make a dent, with the party registering “no change” in its position at 20 per cent ­compared to Reform’s 33 per cent. 

If Badenoch also fails to make inroads, the same doubts over her leadership will come flooding back. 

May’s local elections are almost certain to be bloody, with the party at risk of ­falling to a humiliating fourth in both Wales and Scotland. 

Badenoch’s allies are setting expectations on the floor — but as one of her Shadow Cabinet tells me: “You can roll the pitch as much as you like, nothing prepares you for the pain until it actually hits.” 

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Mass losses would spark a fierce ­internal debate between those gunning for regicide and those who despair at the thought of the Tories killing off yet another leader. 

One prominent donor has been telling friends that he will close his chequebook forever if Badenoch is toppled. 

Whereas a Shadow Cabinet minister says: “If she’s not going to be Prime ­Minister, you might as well get rid of her now.” 

Her main rival, Robert Jenrick, is sitting back, but king cobras also sit back before they strike. 

While plotters are setting their watches for the May 1 polls, smart Tories are ­looking towards November 26 to mount a fightback. 

The upcoming Budget on that date was barely ­mentioned in both Manchester and ­Liverpool, but it could turn the fortunes of all parties on their head. 

Last year Chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed her £45billion tax raid was a one-off forced upon her by years of Tory ­economic recklessness. 

Now she is coming back for more in a Budget that risks being even more toxic. 

Bond markets have put the Chancellor in fiscal handcuffs, rightly stopping her borrowing even more money on the slate. 

Labour MPs have put her in a political straitjacket by vowing to vote down any serious spending cuts, including to the eye-watering benefits bill. 

Despite the chaos of Liz Truss, voters on YouGov’s tracker still view the Tories as the most trusted custodians of the public finances. 

And growth is so puny that it will barely move the dial, all pointing to ­taxpayers being rinsed even further to make the sums add up. 

Ms Reeves is privately furious with the Office for Budget Responsibility, whose decision to downgrade productivity leaves her with an even bigger black hole — in the region of £30billion. 

Perhaps she regrets fawning quite so much over the economic watchdog when it was a thorn in the Tory side. 

She is preparing to once again blame the Conservative record, but that is unlikely to wash for a second time, ­especially if she finds money to lift the two-child benefit cap to placate her own MPs. 

A fight on the economy is fertile ­territory for Badenoch, who spent much of yesterday attacking this “high-tax, low-growth doom loop”. 

Shock therapy 

Despite the chaos of Liz Truss, voters on YouGov’s tracker still view the Tories as the most trusted custodians of the public finances. 

Some at the top of the tree believe ­economic implosion is the shock therapy needed to get them back in the game. 

One Tory Shadow Cabinet minister tells me: “People don’t yet realise how bad things are, but be in no doubt, we are flying into the mountainside. And when we crash, that is our chance to make our case to the country once again.”

Farage will of course give this short shrift, arguing he is not only reaping ­justified anger from years of immigration failure, but also decades of working people feeling no better off. 

It is clear Badenoch still needs to go toe-to-toe on borders to have any hope of winning back voters. 

But if a miserable Budget sees voters crying out for economic competence, the Tories might at last have their pitch. 

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TORIES will promise to introduce a US-style immigration force to deport up to 150,000 people a year.

Leader Kemi Badenoch will unveil the Conservatives’ toughest border policies yet at her first party conference.

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The plan is part of a policy blitz as the Tories try to stop haemorrhaging support to Reform UK.

Ms Badenoch will pledge to create a £1.6billion removals force like the hardline US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Since President Donald Trump’s second term started in January, it has seen more than two million illegal immigrants either leave the US voluntarily or be removed.

As the party faithful gathered in Manchester, Ms Badenoch — who turned up hand-in-hand with husband Hamish — said: “We must tackle the scourge of illegal immigration to Britain and secure our borders.

“That is why the Conservatives are setting out a serious and comprehensive new plan to end this crisis.

“Labour offer failed gimmicks like ‘one thousand in, one out’.

“Reform have nothing but announcements that fall apart on arrival.”

The plan — if the Conservatives win the next election — would see all new illegal migrants deported within a week of arrival.

The “Removals Force” would be handed sweeping powers like facial recognition to spot them.

Police will have to conduct immigration checks on everyone they stop.

Illegal migrants would be banned from claiming asylum and refugee status will be for only those whose government is trying to kill them.

Immigration tribunals would be abolished and legal aid denied.

Ms Badenoch has committed to taking the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights — used to argue against deportations.

But she has been accused of mimicking Nigel Farage’s Reform policies with tougher stances on borders and net zero.

Insiders claim Tory MPs are holding on to letters calling for Ms Badenoch to quit so they can use them when she can be challenged after a year in office — on November 3.

But others expect a move would be more likely after May’s local elections.

Asked if they will topple Ms Badenoch after another bad performance at the ballot box, Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho told The Sun on Sunday: “Kemi’s had one of the toughest jobs in politics.

“If you’re someone who takes over a party after it’s lost an election, it’s a pretty rough ride.

“We’re now taking on energy and you’ll see even more from us on immigration.

“Those are the things that I think the public care about.”

But on the eve of the Conference, London Assembly member Keith Prince became the latest Tory to jump ship to Reform.

A Labour Party spokesperson insisted: “The Conservatives’ message on immigration is; we got everything wrong, we won’t apologise, now trust us.

“It won’t wash.”

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KEMI Badenoch has thrown down the gauntlet to Keir Starmer on the economy demanding no stealth taxes on Brits.

The Tory leader has written to the Prime Minister saying “tax rises are a choice”.

She has challenged him to repeat Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ promise at the Budget last year not to extend the freeze on income tax and National Insurance thresholds.

Failing to end the freeze as planned in 2028 would mean millions more Brits are forced into paying a higher rate of tax under fiscal drag.

This is when people are pulled into higher income tax brackets as inflation pushes their wages up.

It comes after a bombshell report said the Chancellor must find £50billion in her autumn Budget to keep the country’s finances in check.

She will have to raise taxes or cut spending to maintain her stated financial cushion of £9.9billion by the end of the decade, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

At the Budget, Ms Reeves said: “Extending the threshold freeze would hurt working people.

“It would take more money out of their payslips.

“I am keeping every single promise on tax that I made in our manifesto, so there will be no extension of the freeze in income tax and national insurance thresholds.”

Ms Badenoch asked the PM: “I am writing to you to ask: does this remain government policy?”

A Labour spokesperson said: “We’ll take no lectures from this failed Tory Party.

“They crashed the economy which sent bills and mortgages rocketing, and left a £22 billion blackhole.

“Kemi Badenoch’s next letter should be an apology to hard-pressed households for the Conservatives’ role in hammering their family finances.

“Labour is the only party focused on creating a fairer Britain.”

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SIR Keir Starmer is preparing to wave the white flag to Brussels in a fresh Brexit betrayal, Kemi Badenoch has warned.

The Tory chief accused the PM of lining up a string of concessions to the EU just to say he’s “reset” Brexit relations.

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It comes as the PM is heading to Albania today for last-minute talks with EU leaders ahead of a major London summit, where he’s expected to sign a new defence and trade pact.

It is understood that in return, Sir Keir has put fishing rights, immigration rules and legal powers all on the line.

Writing for The Sun, Ms Badenoch said: “Keir Starmer walks into negotiations with a white flag at the ready…

“The Brexit vote was not a polite suggestion, it was a clear instruction: to put Britain first.” She warned British waters could be handed back to French trawlers “for no good reason”, calling it “a fundamental betrayal of Britain’s fishing community”.

And she raised alarm over Labour’s support for an EU Youth Mobility Scheme, saying it “would see us accepting seemingly unlimited numbers of unemployed 20-somethings from Romania and Bulgaria… all coming over here to take UK jobs.”

The Tory leader accused Labour of preparing to make Britain “a rule-taker from Brussels once again” by aligning food laws, restricting farmers from using modern crops.

And she warned the plan to join the EU’s carbon trading scheme will leave Sun readers “saddled with even more expensive bills, just so Keir Starmer can say he ‘got closer’ to Europe.”

Vowing to reverse any Brexit row backs, Ms Badenoch said: “A future Conservative Government will take them back. I will always put Britain first. And when the time comes – I will make it right.”

Ms Badenoch will head to Brussels herself today to speak at the IDU Forum – a global gathering of centre-right parties.

She will argue Britain’s relationship with EU countries can be improved without “being supplicant”.