Kemi Badenoch channels her fantasies as she launches the Tories’ local election campaign | John Crace

2026-03-19 - 17:00

This wasn’t just a mean-spirited version of Britain, it was also positively deranged Abandon hope all ye who enter here. You’d have thought this would be the very definition of futility. An act of defiant nihilism. A few weeks ago Kemi Badenoch had declared that the Tory candidate for Gorton and Denton, Charlotte Cadden, had been the real winner despite getting under 2% of the vote and losing her deposit. Now Kemi was to launch the Conservatives’ local election campaign in the certain knowledge the end result would be electoral wipeout. Tory councillors falling on their swords en masse. And yet... This was politics as looking-glass war. Where all the old certainties were gone. Where you couldn’t be sure that anything was real. Because inside the cafe at St John’s Smith Square in Westminster, the excitement was tangible. Most of the shadow cabinet were lined up in the front row behind the podium, their smiles more or less genuine. And behind them about a hundred Tory activists, chanting and waving banners and union jacks. You could even spot John Redwood lurking in the background. The night of the living dead. Continue reading...