There's been a Badenoch bounce': is the Tory leader finally cutting through?

"At a Conservative donors event last week, Kemi Badenoch was asked for a selfie by the former Spice Girl Geri Horner. The Tory leader was, her allies say, a little bemused by the approach. But they were clear about what it meant: cut-through. Badenoch's leadership got off to a poor start. Still reeling from the Tories' worst general election defeat, she took over a diminished and disheartened party, which was languishing in the polls"

"For months, impatient Conservative insiders shared concerns about her political strategy, her inner team and the struggle to get a grip on the party's dire finances and broken machinery, as well as her visceral dislike of the media and combative demeanour. By the time of her first party conference as leader in early October, many MPs feared the Tories were drifting into irrelevance."

"They privately agreed the clock was ticking on Badenoch, with her first anniversary in the job the moment when, under party rules, she could first face a leadership challenge. But despite the Tory party's reputation for regicide, the challenge did not come. Instead, almost six weeks after that moment of potential peril, her own side finally appears to be warming to her. There are even signs the public is starting to give her a hearing."

Kemi Badenoch began her leadership amid the Conservatives' worst general election defeat, inheriting a diminished party with low poll ratings and a threat from Reform UK. Insiders expressed sustained concerns about her strategy, inner team, dire finances, broken party machinery, visceral dislike of the media and combative demeanour. Many MPs feared the party was drifting into irrelevance and anticipated a potential leadership challenge at her first anniversary under party rules. No challenge materialised, and within weeks colleagues began warming to her. A confident, policy-heavy conference performance appears to have improved her standing with members and the public, reflected in improved approval polling.

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