Congratulations to Kemi Badenoch on her election as Conservative leader.
Some of us had reservations about Badenoch’s adherence to Thatcherism, the neo-liberal dogma that everything can be left to the market, and that society is nothing but a collection of individuals – a dogma that, paradoxically, is destructive of the very values, beliefs and traditions that conservatives ought to hold dear. She seemed to have limited awareness that the English tradition of conservativism has at its heart, not market forces and the profit motive, but the loyalties, traditions, affections and reciprocal obligations that bind together families, communities and nation – the bedrock on which any civil society, markets included, is founded.
On the other hand, Badenoch’s stance in ‘the culture wars’ has been exemplary. She has an instinctive understanding of the mortal threat to our society, our nation, and to our hard-won liberties posed by the quasi-religious dogma of cultural Marxism, which incorporates diversity, multiculturalism, identity politics, critical race theory, gender theory, postcolonial theory, and all the rest of it. And she has the courage and the spirit, so lamentably lacking in her peers, to take the fight to the enemy. Here, it is an inestimable advantage that she is black – that is, not cursed with the original sin of whiteness – and consequently need not fear being branded a ‘racist’ or ‘white supremacist’. Though, as I write, I see that Labour MP Dawn Butler, who believes that the police are institutionally racist, and that children are born without sex, has shared a social media post accusing Kemi Badenoch of representing ‘white supremacy in blackface’. This is the poison we are up against.
So, although she may lack the finer sense of history, tradition, of custodianship, of place and community that underpinned the conservatism espoused by Roger Scruton, Badenoch is sure as hell determined to defend our nation from those who would deconstruct and destroy it. And in the coming years, this may well be the most important fight of all.
Badenoch is formidably intelligent and articulate, and argues her case without resort to the jargon, platitudes and managerial speak we are accustomed to from our politicians. This will be a welcome change. She studied for her A-levels while working in McDonald’s and went on to complete degrees in computer systems engineering (which no doubt helped her to hack into Harriet Harman’s website as a prank) and in law, the latter while working as a software engineer. In other words, she came up through the real world, and through working her socks off – not as a political researcher, media consultant, political advisor, and then special advisor.
Badenoch can be abrasive, and the remark, from a friend, that ‘she would cross the road to bite your ankles’ is doing the media rounds. She will need to develop the skills and arts of diplomacy, including the willingness to listen, and patience when dealing with lesser mortals. She will do well to take counsel of wiser and more experienced elders. Michael Gove was an early supporter, and he will prove invaluable. Despite the opprobrium he has earned over the years, no-one is more politically savvy, and no Conservative politician has a better sense of what conservatism is about.
But for now, there is nobody better equipped to take Starmer apart at the dispatch box. One fears for him, as he is in for a bloodletting.
Let the battle commence.
6 responses
In regards to your first point about Mrs Badenoch’s limited understanding of the English conservative tradition it would be worth you and others listening to Tom McTague’s recent interview with on the UnHerd website. There she pays tribute to Roger Scruton in her thinking. As to Thatcherism I think for her and many conservatives that is shorthand for wanting a free market economy over against a socialist one such as the one taking shape under this government. That doesn’t mean that there is no place for appropriate government interventions. In fact, in the interview Badenoch clearly places the economy as a means to the end of other things such as culture. But the big point is that facing the disaster of this Labour government conservatives cannot be too fussy as long as the leader of the party is a genuine conservative.
Thanks for putting me on to the UnHerd interview. It would be interesting to know how she reconciles Thomas Sowell, who is out and out free markets, with Roger Scruton, who is not. But both are towering figures and encouraging choices as influences.
Just rejoined the Conservatives – let’s bring back GB values!
My main worry is that she is a WEF adept; perhaps the most evil global institution, alongside the WHO. I want a Conservative leader that refutes its baleful influence and makes it clear it has no place or sway in and on our democracy.
Doing that she will also make it clear she is in direct opposition to Starmer’s publicly stated preference for Davos before Parliament. Globalism is appalling, and we need to say a resounding NO to it.
What you say about Thatcherism – the neo-liberal dogma that … society is nothing but a collection of individuals.
What Thatcher said in a famous interview – There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then to look after our neighbour. My meaning, clear at the time but subsequently distorted beyond recognition, was that society was not an abstraction, separate from the men and women who composed it, but a living structure of individuals, families, neighbours and voluntary associations.
Isn’t it precisely that living structure of local communities that global markets and neo-liberal dogma destroy? That’s why traditional Tories like Perry Worsthorne loathed Thatcherism.