Conference Kemi: The Tories won Conference Season

There were five big political conferences this year, but only one party stood up to the challenge and delivered an inspiring and ambitious plan for our nation: the Conservatives. The three smaller parties (by number of MPs), Reform UK, the Greens, and Lib Dems, were all interesting but were unsuccessful. Reform UK’s big policy announcements, such as cutting welfare by £50 billion annually by 2030 and to call a state of emergency, were overshadowed by advisors James Orr and Dan Jukes being revealed in a Channel 4 undercover investigation discussing breaking campaign finance laws.

The mood at their conference was only further dampened when a protester was beaten by Reform members during Nigel Farage’s speech; one audience member hit her with a crutch. The Greens took to Brighton and passed the motion that ‘Zionism is Racism’, causing much concern within the Jewish-British community. The motion was condemned by all sides of politics, including Westminster leader of the Greens Ellie Chowns, calling it a “significant and damaging policy”. Zack Polanski must do the honourable thing, denounce this motion and remove it from the Green Party platform.

The Lib Dems had a conference in Brighton (but it was almost the secondary conference in Brighton, overshadowed by the Greens). Once again, the Lib Dems blamed most issues, such as the economy, on Brexit. Ed Davey in his speech said that rejoining the EU single market and the customs union would result in economic growth and allow him to cut taxes and increasing the personal allowance to £15,000; which will remove 2.5 million people from income tax altogether. As Britain is being taxed to death this appears to be a good policy, but the Lib Dems seem unable to catch the spotlight like the other parties; so it falls on deaf ears.

I commend Andy Burnham’s conference speech as particularly powerful when he brought up his father, who recently died of Alzheimer’s, and tied that to the establishment of a National Care Service. After two years of snooze-fest Starmer speeches, to see a leader who obviously cares about the country was a good change. However, his lack of mention of defence policy and setting out how to fund an increase in GDP spending on defence were of particular concern. It is imperative that we are a well defended country to protect ourselves from global threats. An unfunded defence plan is what led to Chancellor John Healey and minister Al Cairns resigning from Starmer’s government. If Britain has the money for public ownership of water and a National Care Service, why not defence of our people?

What made the Conservative conference a win for Kemi Badenoch was the feeling and sentiment she invoked.

For the past two years, it has felt like an uphill slog for Kemi Badenoch and the Tories in trying to rebuild the party, learn the lessons of their 14 years in government, and make them a credible party. There were signs of this renewal: Kemi’s 2025 Budget speech, in which she labelled the Labour Party “The party for benefits streets”; truer words have never been spoken, and Andy Burnham has not displaced that label. In addition, winning the Aberdeen South by-election in May 2026. But it seems that the Conservative Party Conference 2026 is the true turning point.

The Tory party showed their characteristic humour by inviting national treasure Jeremy Clarkson and Charlie Ireland from Clarkson’s Farm to discuss Labour’s terrible farming policy. They also created a ‘Birmingham Tapestry’, a play on the Bayeux Tapestry, showing the events of British politics since Kemi’s tenure as leader. It showed some not-so-flattering portrayals of British politicians, such as Rachel Reeves and Robert Jenrick, but what made the Conservative conference a win for Kemi Badenoch was the feeling and sentiment she invoked.

Her conference speech was different to Burnham’s in a good way: whereas Burnham’s speech was emotive, Kemi’s inspired ideological conviction. She proposed abolishing inheritance tax on family homes and allowing couples to pass on £1 million untaxed; if somebody spends decades working and saving money, it should be allowed to go to their family. She is also proposing £30 billion in welfare savings and create a ‘Back to Work’ card, restricting how some benefit payments can be spent; benefits recipients should get enough money to live, whilst the British state has a duty to provide its citizens with the essentials of life; money should be used responsibly particularly when it’s the taxpayers’. Kemi has also proposed policies to keep Britain safer, such as spending 3% of GDP on defence by 2030 and the creation of a ‘Britannia Shield’ system based on the model of the Israeli ‘Iron Dome’.

As the world gets more unstable, Britain must be able to defend itself without the help of not-so-helpful allies… So why did Kemi Badenoch win the conference wars? As Margaret Thatcher said, “Politics is philosophy in action”, Kemi believes that the centrist ‘One-Nation’ politics of Cameron and May is dead and doesn’t work, and that Conservatives, in her words, need to get back to their “traditional” Thatcherite roots of free enterprise, small state, being tough on law and order, and a hawkish foreign policy rooted in realism. While I laud Kemi Badenoch’s conviction politics and praise her hawkish defence policies,  I worry that her overly Thatcherite tone may alienate some moderates and shift their votes to the Lib Dems; the Conservatives are the only party in my opinion with serious policies for government, so to win they must bring moderates along for the ride.

Thatcher said, “Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you”. Kemi is changing the conversation, showing that she is a stateswoman of the highest order and that her party is the party of governance.

By Harrison Beaken

Image: Wikimedia Commons