Kemi Badenoch: I will earn voter trust and release policy as ‘thought through’
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she will “earn the trust of the British people” and will release policies as “it’s thought through”.
Mrs Badenoch told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “these things will come”, in an interview due to be broadcast on Monday morning.
The Tory leader was facing questions about her policy positions and whether there are voters who want to hear more from her.
Trust
In a clip published by the BBC ahead of the interview’s broadcast, Ms Badenoch said: “We are six weeks into a four-year general election, maybe five even depending on exactly how it works.
“Whatever I say now is likely not to apply then, so what I’m going to do is earn the trust of the British people by explaining to them how we think, and we are going to bring the policy out as it’s thought through.
“So I’m not saying ‘we’re not going to say anything, vote for us’, these things will come (…) you will start to see them soon.”
She later added: “‘Watch this space’ is what I’m saying, you will see there will be a narrative.”
Mrs Badenoch became Tory leader in November, defeating Robert Jenrick to replace Rishi Sunak.
The MP for North West Essex said in her victory speech that the party needs to be “honest” about the mistakes they made in government.
“Work to do”
On Sunday, one of Mrs Badenoch’s shadow ministers said it will take time for voters to “understand” the new leader but they will “grow to really respect her”.
Shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake described his party leader as “bold” and “optimistic” and predicted that by 2029 the party will be in a “much better place in terms of convincing people to vote Conservative”.
Mr Hollinrake told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: “Of course there’s work to do, of course it will take time for Kemi, for people to understand what Kemi is all about.
“I worked for her for 18 months in the Department for Business and Trade as her minister and I was nothing but impressed about the person she is.
“She’s bold, she’s optimistic, she’s strong, she says what she thinks – which in politics, I think is quite a rare commodity, sadly.
“So I think over time, people will grow to really respect her. And I think come 2029 we’ll be in a much better place in terms of convincing people to vote Conservative.”
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Tories presuming short memory. Sunaks’ earn trust comment has resulted in Badenoch being the leader of the opposition. I wonder where repeating it will get her.
Hollinrake? He is that transparent? She has not brought us anything in her memorandums etc. that make up for the massive losses from brexit. PMQ’s is now embarrassing watching her hoist herself on her own petard every time.
So, she is promising us something with a mystery box of promises that probably contains manure. Dereg was her thing, that means removing rights and dropping safety, for billionaire’s to make more money, now she has to find the right spin to make it sound good. That is what I see here.