THE Tories made mistakes in office – including in their handling of Brexit – and Labour are now “doubling down” on them, Kemi Badenoch has said.
In a speech billed as her first of 2025, the Conservative leader attempted to draw a line under the 14 years of Tory government and present her party as refreshed after a huge defeat in the General Election last summer when they won just 121 MPs.
As they try to recover, the Conservatives are facing a challenge on the right from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, who are polling consistently higher than them in recent Holyrood and Westminster surveys.
Speaking on Thursday, Badenoch said the Tories would own up to their mistakes in an effort to get the public to trust them.
“The public will never trust politicians unless we can admit our mistakes,” she said.
“Labour are making a lot of mistakes. But the difference between me and Keir Starmer is that he doesn't believe that he's ever made a mistake.
“I will acknowledge the Conservative Party made mistakes and I understand why the British people made it so clear in July that they wanted a change.
“We were making announcements without proper plans. We announced that we would leave the European Union before we had a plan for growth outside the EU.
“We made it the law that we would deliver net-zero by 2050, and only then did we start thinking about how we would do that. “We announced year after year that we would lower immigration but despite our efforts immigration kept going up.
“Those mistakes were made because we told people what they wanted to hear first and then tried to work it out later. That is going to stop under my leadership.”
She added that Labour were “cancelling the good things we did and then doubling down on our mistakes”.
First elected as an MP in 2017, Badenoch went on to be international trade secretary under Liz Truss and then Rishi Sunak, before becoming business secretary in 2023.
After her speech, Badenoch was asked if she would consider merging with Farage’s Reform UK. She ruled it out.
“Nigel Farage says he wants to destroy the Conservative Party. Why on earth would we merge with that?” she said.
Addressing Reform’s lead over the Tories in the polls, she added: “Nigel Farage has been knocking around for 20-plus years. He’s been leading all sorts of different parties, so he has had a head start.”
The Tories are the oldest political party in the UK, with a history spanning two centuries.
Then asked why her speech was “depressing”, Badenoch (below) told journalists: “I’m speaking based on where the Conservative Party is. We have just suffered our greatest ever defeat.
“I don’t think the public will start trusting us if I turn up looking like I’m having a great time and everything’s fantastic.”
"Far from rebuilding trust, Kemi Badenoch still can’t bring herself to be honest about the true litany of mistakes the Conservatives made over 14 years of failure in government," Reeves said.
“Where was the apology for her role in Liz Truss' disastrous mini-Budget that crashed the economy and sent mortgages spiralling, or the £22 billion black hole left in the public finances?
"The Tories haven’t listened and they haven’t learned and Kemi Badenoch should own up to the damage she and the Conservative Party have done to the country."
