My approach will pay off eventually, says Kemi Badenoch

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said there may be a “price to pay” in the opinion polls but insisted her approach to changing her party would “pay off eventually”.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Badenoch argued that unlike Labour and Reform UK she wouldn’t “rush out” new policies and would instead take “time to get it right”.

She acknowledged that the Conservative Party may take a “small” political hit for the strategy but said: “Nothing good comes quickly.”

As her party’s conference kicks off in Manchester, Badenoch is facing questions about her first year as leader which has seen the party perform poorly in the polls and in local elections.

The party has been losing support to Reform, and some former Conservatives MPs – and one who was elected in 2024 – have defected to Nigel Farage’s party.

Asked if Reform had stolen the Conservatives’ thunder, Badenoch said: “Reform rushed out an announcement on indefinite leave to remain – they hadn’t done the actual work.

“All of a sudden lots of Europeans with settled status didn’t know what was going to happen to them.

“I make sure that when I announce something I think about how it is going to impact people.

“Winning elections without a plan is what got us into trouble, it is why Labour is floundering and that is what Reform will deliver.

“I said I want to do politics differently – doing it differently means being patient and taking our time to get it right.”

In the build-up to the conference, the Conservatives have released a string of policies including an intention to repeal the Climate Change Act, leave the European Convention on Human Rights and a plan to remove 750,000 illegal immigrants.

Under its proposals, the Conservatives say they would ban people who enter the UK without permission from claiming asylum and set up a force to remove people quickly.

The party says its pledge to leave the ECHR would make it harder for people to appeal against their removal and speed up deportations.

Badenoch told Laura Kuenssberg there were “too many people in our country who should not be here”.

Asked where the people being deported would be sent to, Badenoch said: “I’m tired of us asking all of these irrelevant questions about where should they go.

“They will go back to where they should do or another country, but they should not be here.

“We cannot have a situation where we cannot deport people, we don’t know where they will go so they can stay here.

“That is basically inviting every single person across the world to our shores because we don’t know where they would go after. That is a defeatist attitude and I will not have that.”

In a later interview with GB News, Badenoch said that MPs who did not agree with leaving the ECHR would not be able to stand as a Conservative candidate.

She said party members could have different views but added: “If you want to be a Member of Parliament as a Conservative, then you need to understand that leaving the ECHR is a manifesto commitment.”

The Conservative conference will see the party faithful gather in Manchester for four days of speeches, debate and discussion.

Overhanging the conference are poor opinion polls, and questions about Badenoch’s leadership.

Recent You Gov polling suggested that only one in five believe Badenoch has done well as Conservative leader, while nearly half (45%) think she has done badly.

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg’s programme, Conservative Mayor of Tees Valley Lord Ben Houchen, said the party should have got “our show on the road much sooner than we have” and added that “a space” had been created for Reform to “steal a march”.

“We need to start to pull our socks up… start to communicate better and start to outline what a positive Conservative Party can deliver for this country.”