Kemi Badenoch shows why she is the obvious choice to be the next Tory leader

Kemi Badenoch, Minister for Business and Trade, speaks at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester. Photo: Holly Adams/Bloomberg

The word that comes up most often when people say this year's Conservative Party conference is «flat.»

But amid the political speeches in the half-empty halls, there was a strange flash of electricity .

Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman received the kind of rock star treatment not seen since the heyday of Boris Johnson.

Frank Lantz, an American sociologist who predicted that Liz Truss would succeed Boris Johnson in two years. before it happened, has now predicted Ms Badenoch will become the next Tory leader.

Bookmakers have made her the new favorite for the job.

At a side event held by the magazine The Spectator on Tuesday night, hundreds of Badenoch fans agreed.

Some couldn't help themselves at the sight of the Business and Trade Secretary shouting: «We love you.» Kemi! and “Kemi for Prime Minister!”

No doubt her most ardent supporters would like to see her become Tory leader before the next election. However, most see her as the obvious candidate to reinvigorate the party if, as currently seems likely, Labor wins the next election.

On the surface, the young black woman leading the Conservatives represents the most dramatic possible reboot for a beaten party that its opponents say has run out of energy and ideas after 13 years in power.

More importantly, . As for the party members (who have the final say in choosing the leadership), she is unabashedly right-wing, flag-waving patriotic and a true believer in Brexit.

The Tories cannot win the next or any other election if their electorate deserts them. To gain leadership, leadership aspirants only need to win over the parliamentary party and its members, not the country as a whole. Just ask Ms Truss.

And at The Spectator event, where Ms Badenoch spent 50 minutes chatting with Fraser Nelson, the magazine's editor, she revealed why the magazine's members are shouting her name.

Ms Badenoch, born in London but raised in Nigeria, came to the UK alone for a British education, lived with a family friend and worked at weekends to support herself.

«Nigeria didn't care about me» , she told the audience. “The country that loved me and cared for me was Britain.”

In such emotional phrases, Ms Badenoch, 43, combines unashamed patriotism with a clear message on migration: Britain cares about those who come here legally.

She speaks simply and is not afraid to use words such as «Lefty» when she criticizes the North Londoners who patronized her when she was at university.

On Brexit, she states that she is » combative» on the issue, saying her role as trade minister showed her that the European Commission «doesn't care about business, they only care about the European project.»

'Best place in the world for black people.»< p>She's also not afraid to wade into the culture wars, earning front-page praise this week for her conference speech in which, in her other role as equalities minister, she said Britain was the best place in the world to be black.

Critics of Ms Badenoch argue that she is either a puppet of Michael Gove, her biggest supporter, or that her policies have little depth.

< p>“Can you tell me anything she stands for other than fighting the woke crowd?” said one Tory MP when asked if she had convinced them.

But as business and trade secretary, her main job is to secure those free trade agreements that were promised as one of the Brexit dividends — that is, she does not need to come up with radical policies now.

Like Boris Johnson before her, she is capable of using rhetoric to destructive effect. In opposition, this is a big part of the job.

Her supporters admit she has more in common with David Cameron than with Boris Johnson, as she is a relatively untested MP who can create a new face and learn the ropes after five years in opposition.

p> p>Ms Badenoch finished a very respectable fourth in last year's leadership contest, while her direct rival Ms Braverman finished a distant sixth.

If the Tory base collapses at the next election, the party is certain to turn towards Yes, and Mrs Badenoch may well be the obvious choice to go there.