Every time I begin to see Kemi Badenoch as a plausible leader not of the Conservative party alone, but of the whole nation, something crops up to spoil it.
Don’t misunderstand me. She’s now an imaginable prime minister. Badenoch is beginning to impress not only old has-beens like me, who always wanted to admire her – though at first we struggled – but also a news media that had tended to dismiss the possibility of a strong Tory challenge. Many who weren’t fans can’t but notice a leader growing into the job. Opinion polling backs that up.
While Badenoch speaks well and has been writing impressively for newspapers like my own, the emerging regard for her capabilities is so far owed mostly to her performance at Prime Minister’s Questions. Seemingly relaxed, with the hint of a smile and an air almost of amusement, she has played with Keir Starmer like a cat with a cornered mouse.
I love the unspoken ‘Dear me, this will never do’ in her tone. There has been mischievous humour in her dismissal of a failing PM. From the backstairs of the opposition leader’s office I watched Margaret Thatcher closely over the years before her victory in 1979. I now see Badenoch already doing better than Mrs T at first seemed to. Thatcher looked nervous and sounded screechy. Badenoch is looking assured and never screeches.
