Kemi Badenoch marked her first 100 days as leader of the opposition last week.
What could have been a cause for celebration, though, was probably more a sombre reflection on why she has not managed to revitalise the Conservative Party after it suffered its worst-ever defeat.
Badenoch has failed to craft a compelling story about where the Conservatives are heading since taking office, raising serious questions about her political future.
Unlike Labour, the Conservative Party is a ruthless political machine that will oust its leader at the faintest whiff of electoral defeat, a point hammered home by the churn of PMs in recent years.
With Badenoch’s position looking increasingly unsafe, here’s a look at her five biggest blunders thus far.
Bombing at PMQs
Badenoch has failed to land a decisive blow during PMQs, focusing on anodyne areas of policy instead of open goals.
One seemingly missed opportunity came a few weeks back when the Tory leader failed to grill Starmer on the failings surrounding Axel Rudakubana’s horrific killings last summer.
The Prime Minister, who vowed not to leave a stone unturned in an inquiry into the Southport murders, might have expected Badenoch to haul him over the coals over issues raised by other Conservative colleagues, including Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick.
But speaking in the House of Commons, Badenoch said: “I also know that the thoughts of many will be with the victims of the Southport killings.
“There are important questions to answer, and I will return to those after the case is concluded.”
Her lacklustre performance has not gone unnoticed by senior Tories, who have warned Rishi Sunak’s successor that she could face a leadership challenge “within months” if she doesn’t get her act together.
One recently said: “We want Kemi to succeed, but she needs to change her tactics. The problem is she doesn’t listen to anyone. She needs to change course quickly.
“And she needs to get some new members of her team who can actually stand up to her and say no and she will listen to them.”
Slide in the polls
Badenoch continues to slide in the polls as Reform UK steals the show and Labour gets a drubbing.
New polling from Sky/YouGov put Reform above the Tories across all indicators, with only 10 per cent of voters currently seeing the Tories as ‘strong’, while 61 per cent see them as ‘weak’.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage’s party scored 31 and 27 per cent on this measure, respectively. This means three times as many voters see Reform as strong as the Tories.
With twice as many voters also likely to see Reform as having a clear direction than the Tories, the polling suggests right-wing voters are rallying around a new cause.
The result is consistent with previous findings, with Reform overtaking Labour in a YouGov poll for the first time earlier this month, with Badenoch’s party trailing behind in third place.
Kemi Badenoch’s ill-advised spat with Nigel Farage on social media in December has not helped her standing as leader.
While most of us spent Boxing Day in the company of family, the Tory leader took to social media to accuse Reform of ‘manipulating’ its membership numbers after its live counter showed the party had overtaken the Conservatives.
Badenoch wrote on X: “Manipulating your own supporters at Xmas, Nigel? It’s not real. It’s a fake…coded to tick up automatically. We’ve been watching the back end for days and can also see they’ve just changed the code to link to a different site as people point this out.
“Farage doesn’t understand the digital age. This kind of fakery gets found out pretty quickly, although not before many are fooled…like many of you, I am sick of the endless lies, smoke and mirrors, stuff and nonsense politics.”
Nigel Farage hit back over the claims, accusing Badenoch being “bitter, upset and angry” at Reform’s rapid rise eating away at the Tory vote share in a series of fiery posts.
He vowed to carry out an audit to prove which party has the most members and threatened legal action over Badenoch’s accusation.
Farage appeared to win the argument, casting doubt over Badenoch’s credibility and judgment.
A former top Tory No10 aide went as far as to suggest she should give up her social media logins.
Tory HQ said to be in a state of panic over wealthy donors ditching the party for Reform UK.
Speculation started swirling after billionaire property tycoon Nick Candy pledged to raise more than £40million in donations for Nigel Farage’s party after he was appointed treasurer last year.
The former Tory donor has reportedly ignited interest from other affluent backers, including X owner Elon Musk, who has become increasingly vocal about his support for Farage and Reform.
Meanwhile, Reform held a £25,000-a head fundraiser in Mayfair last month attended by ex-Conservative donors Bassim Haidar and Mohamed Amersi.
The evening reportedly generated more than £1million in funds for the party, which will go towards taking out the Conservatives to become the opposition to Labour.
The upcoming May elections could prove to be another headache for Badenoch.
Farage accused her party of “colluding” with Labour to check Reform’s rise by delaying local elections in nine areas.
Our exclusive analysis of the data puts the Conservatives as the main beneficiaries of the council election delays as Reform was expected to eat into their vote share in the areas delayed under Labour’s devolution plans.
The move to delay elections has angered many voters disillusioned with the two main parties, who feel their democratic right to punish the two main parties at the ballot box has been taken away.
Thurrock – the unitary authority in Essex that’s delayed local elections for one year – was expected to turn turquoise blue for the first time.
Mindful of the accusation that she is working in cahoots with Labour to prevent Reform from gaining ground, Badenoch has launched a formal bid to keep local elections scheduled for this May, as her shadow business secretary warned cancelling them was “entirely wrong”.
However, if they go ahead and Conservatives trounce Reform, it will be harder to fend off this attack.
This could sink her popularity among right-leaning voters further and strengthen calls for her to go.
