Kemi Badenoch has declared that Britain’s next general election will be a “battle for the soul of this nation”, as the Conservative leader rejected any prospect of an electoral pact with Reform UK and sought to draw a sharper dividing line with Nigel Farage’s party.
Addressing Conservative members in Birmingham, Badenoch used her keynote speech to argue that voters faced a choice between what she portrayed as a renewed Conservative Party and political movements she said offered little beyond confrontation and instability.
Her intervention came as Reform UK faced renewed scrutiny following a Channel 4 sting operation examining allegations surrounding foreign donations. An internal investigation by Reform subsequently cleared two senior officials of misconduct, while the Metropolitan Police continues a criminal investigation into the matter.
Badenoch used the controversy to attack calls from parts of the Conservative movement for cooperation with Reform, rejecting the idea that the two parties should “Unite the Right”.
“The circus goes on and on and will never stop because this is who Reform politicians are,” she told delegates at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre.
“So to those who say ‘Unite the Right’, we are not uniting with that. People deserve better; they deserve better.”
The intervention underlines the strategic dilemma facing the Conservatives as they attempt to rebuild after the 2024 general election while competing for voters with Reform.
Rather than seeking an accommodation with Farage, Badenoch is positioning the Conservatives as the vehicle for a broader political alternative to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s Labour government.
She also turned her fire on Conservative politicians who abandoned the party for Reform after losing their parliamentary seats at the last election.
Taking aim at what she called “drama queens”, Badenoch said: “We deserve better than Reform politicians.
“A year ago, those politicians were measuring up the curtains for No10… Now, some of them are measuring up the curtains for their prison cells.”
The remarks came as Reform’s internal investigation concluded that two senior officials had not committed misconduct following the Channel 4 operation. The separate police investigation remains ongoing, meaning the allegations surrounding the operation have not been resolved by the internal process.
Badenoch’s broader argument was that the Conservatives should focus less on cooperation with Reform and more on offering voters an alternative programme on the economy and the role of the state.
She accused Burnham’s government of pursuing a model of high taxation and spending that she argued was suppressing economic activity.
“It’s the same old high-tax, high-spend Labour, no common sense, addicted to welfare, drowning our country in debt, choking our economy with taxes, stifling every innovation with regulation,” she said.
“Enough is enough, the country deserves better, and we are going to give them better.”
The speech framed the next election as a contest extending beyond individual policies.
“There is a fight coming in British politics,” Badenoch told activists. “A fight that we have not seen in this country for more than half a century. It will be a battle for the soul of this nation.”
Her message was aimed at both sides of the political divide facing the Conservatives; a Labour government she portrays as economically interventionist, and Reform UK, which is competing directly for voters on the right.
The strategy leaves Badenoch seeking to reclaim political space without entering an electoral arrangement with Farage.
For the Conservatives, the calculation is straightforward but difficult. An alliance could reduce competition between right-of-centre parties, but would also risk surrendering the party’s claim to be an independent governing force.
Badenoch instead presented the next election as an opportunity for the Conservatives to establish their own political identity.
The battle she described will therefore be fought not only against Labour, but over who represents the future of Britain’s political right.
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