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→ Kemi Badenoch reclaims number one spot in Tory Cabinet poll
It’s snakes and ladders in the Tory Party. As Rishi Sunak slumps to his lowest-ever approval rating among Conservative members in a new poll, Business Secretary and leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch is back on top of the Tory table. The Prime Minister’s rating of -27.7% is the second-lowest among the Cabinet, pipped only by relatively unknown Illegal Immigration Minister Michael Tomlinson. Badenoch’s +56.2% means that she overtakes previous league leader Penny Mordaunt, a promising sign ahead of a probable leadership contest involving both politicians after the election.
Sunak Sinks To Lowest Ever Score in Tory Rankings as Badenoch Retakes Number One Spot https://t.co/ANfFhjLxgG pic.twitter.com/Kx5Y2DajnL
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) April 15, 2024
The overall picture is pretty bleak, though. This is the first time there have been 12 Cabinet ministers with negative ratings, including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron and Housing Minister Michael Gove. So it seems as though the 2010 Tories aren’t popular. Who knew?
→ The truth behind RFK Jr’s dramatic drop in the polls
Is the RFK Jr craze a mirage? While over a fifth of Americans said last autumn that they’d vote for the independent politician in the presidential election, a new poll seems to suggest he’s fallen dramatically behind the two main candidates.
According to the latest New York Times/Siena figures RFK Jr has pulled a meagre 2% of the vote — down 20 percentage points from his peak in October. But a closer look is required. Crucially, Kennedy wasn’t included on the questionnaire, and nor were any of the presidential hopefuls apart from Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The 2% figure represents those who volunteered RFK Jr’s name — had the poll listed him as an option, he likely would have had a much stronger performance.
Siena didn't list RFK as an option and let respondents volunteer him instead. The results are a Complete and Total Vindication of Surname Soyfacing Theory
The two groups that show up as RFK curious when he's listed (youths & Hispanics) are actually least likely to mention him https://t.co/MmmQu62gux pic.twitter.com/Gba7OWoifM
— World's Biggest Crosstab Hater #BanCrosstabs (@schlagteslinks) April 14, 2024
Then again, as the electoral clock counts down to November, perhaps independent voters are beginning to realise third-party candidates don’t tend to become president. Guess it’s a rematch, then…
→ NatCon causes controversy before it even begins
This week’s National Conservatism conference in Brussels will go ahead after all. There were fears over the weekend that the whole event would be cancelled after the previous venue pulled out due to alleged threats from a self-described antifascist group. Today, however, organisers announced that the event will be taking place at luxury hotel Sofitel Brussels.
The conference features leading lights of the populist Right, from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to former UK home secretary Suella Braverman and ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage. The Brussels antifascist group has already reacted, saying that it is “mobilised”, with a representative telling the Brussels Times, “We are preparing ourselves.” Farage is no doubt quaking in his boots…
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SubscribeIn July 2022 Kemi Badenoch joined dozens of ministers in petulantly resigning from government to force out the democratically elected Prime Minister. At the time the Tories were averaging around 33% in the polls, Labour’s lead was in the low single digits, and Reform were at 2-3%. The putsch Badenoch participated in may have brought about the permanent end of the Conservatives as a party of government, given its calamitously weak position amongst the under 50s, and the disastrous subsequent performance of Truss and Sunak, who were always the likely alternatives to Johnson. Thanks Kemi.
We’re not America. The only people who “democratically elected” Boris were the voters in his constituency. He lost the confidence of the parliamentary party and got ousted. It happened to Thatcher too, and it wasn’t a “putsch” then either.
Johnson had a mandate. A government with Sunak as PM, Hunt as Chancellor and Cameron as Foreign Secretary not only has no mandate, it is squatting in office in direct contravention of the 2019 election result and Conservative manifesto. MPs have no personal mandate; they are elected on the basis of party label. Voters do not give them a blank cheque, and they should not act as if they have one.
I wonder if Steve-O realizes he has contradicted himself completely within the space of a few sentences?
Probably not. Anyone who can’t see what a chancer Bunter is clearly isn’t too smart.
“Johnson had a mandate.” v. “MPs have no personal mandate; they are elected on the basis of party label.”
Was Johnson elected leader of the Johnson party? You seem very confused.
I do not get the interest in Penny Mordaunt at all. Is it the sword-carrying being good for her image?
She’s got that blonde matronly disciplinarian vibe. Ever since Thatcher, it causes some Tories to go a bit gaga.
Kemi Badenoch has been great against gender ideology. She’s also a very intelligent and articulate speaker. She will make a great party leader, although whether she can bring back a conservative majority or not, we can’t tell.
It’s very strange reading about supposedly racist Britain. The prime minister is of Indian descent and a Hindu. The currently most popular conservative is a black woman.
Kemi vs Reform idelogues- a scrap to come worth watching. She of course refused to action the bonfire of c4000 bits of EU law promulgated by Mogg et al.
Quite like her. But untested and the Right wing nut jobs won’t fancy someone with common sense when it gets beyond infantile slogans.