Badenoch Positions Tories as 'Common Sense' Party with Thatcher-Era Manifesto

Kemi Badenoch has sought to define her political identity as she opened the Conservative Party's annual conference in Birmingham, describing herself as a "classic old school Conservative" and unveiling a lengthy statement of principles intended to chart a new direction for the party.

In an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, the Tory leader said she was motivated by a belief in "common sense" and in rewarding hard work, adding that the welfare system should function as a "safety net, not a lifestyle."

The remarks came as Badenoch published a 100-page essay titled "The Right Way," a deliberate nod to a 1976 essay by Margaret Thatcher called "The Right Approach." The document is designed to serve as an ideological anchor for a party still recovering from a landslide defeat at the 2024 general election.

Badenoch used the conference platform to argue that the Conservatives' previous fourteen years in government had lacked a clear sense of purpose, which she blamed for the scale of the party's electoral collapse.

In the essay, she contends that successive Tory administrations did little to undo structural changes introduced by Labour that she says pushed the country in the wrong direction, allowing the state to "grow by stealth."

Her central argument is that the next Conservative government should be guided by one overriding principle: that business, not government, generates economic growth. To that end, the essay proposes tax cuts, deregulation, and a reduction in the size of the civil service back to pre-pandemic levels.

The document also calls for a different style of political leadership, suggesting that what is missing from government is "people prepared to say no" — including to otherwise worthy causes when the money is not available.

Badenoch has been working to carve out a distinct identity for her party, which continues to trail both Labour and Reform UK in national polling. Her own personal approval ratings, however, remain higher than those of the party she leads, giving her a degree of individual standing that she is now trying to translate into broader support.

She has not shied away from colourful characterisations of her rivals. She has previously described Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as a "grumpy grandpa," and in her interview with Kuenssberg she labelled Labour leader Andy Burnham "the cheesy uncle who does all the dad jokes." She summed up her own public persona as a "no-nonsense mum."

Asked whether her programme of benefit cuts and a large expansion of prison capacity represented a return to the "nasty party" label once applied to the Conservatives, Badenoch rejected the framing. She insisted the Tories were now "the common sense party," and pointed to the 2024 election result as evidence that the old approach had failed.

Alongside the philosophical document, the party used the opening of conference to announce a series of concrete policy pledges. Among them is a commitment to end the childcare "cliff edge," which currently leaves parents earning more than £100,000 ineligible for government childcare entitlements.

The Conservatives have also promised to create 50,000 additional prison places, funded by cutting the overseas aid budget to £1 billion a year, with the stated aim of ending the early release of offenders. The party notes that over its fourteen years in power, only around 500 net prison places were created, once new capacity is weighed against losses from dilapidation and closures.

Speaking in the main conference hall, Badenoch framed the coming days as an opportunity for members to air their views, predicting robust debates and arguments, but insisting the party would remain united afterwards.

In a question-and-answer session, she touched on themes of citizenship and community trust, saying the UK "is not a dormitory, it is not a hotel" and that British culture "means something." To applause, she said she did not want to see "lots of little ghettos of separatist communities" recreating their places of origin, warning that such divisions would ruin the United Kingdom.

The conference setting itself has not been without political theatrics. An 88-foot satirical tapestry, modelled on the Bayeux Tapestry and depicting the past two years under Labour according to the Conservatives, has proven a popular attraction among attendees.

Labour's response was swift and dismissive. Party chair Bridget Phillipson said the Conservatives were "stuck in the past" and "completely out of touch with what people across Britain want to see," contrasting Badenoch's message with what she described as Burnham's plan to "bring back hope to Britain." Phillipson accused the Tory leader of wanting to drag the country back to a politics that had let people down over four decades.

The stakes for Badenoch are considerable. With the next general election on the horizon, she must convince voters that her party has both changed and rediscovered its purpose, while managing internal divisions over policy and direction. The essay and conference pledges represent her most explicit attempt yet to answer the question of what modern Conservatism stands for.

Whether the "common sense" framing resonates beyond the conference hall remains uncertain. But Badenoch's message is clear: she intends to fight the next election on a platform of smaller government, lower taxes, and a tougher approach to welfare and law and order, wrapped in the language of pragmatic, old-school conservatism.