Call of Duty
BEING leader of the Tories right now is a thankless task.
Kemi Badenoch has spent most of the past year fighting for relevance and to keep her fractious party together.
Despite intense criticism that she was not visible enough, Kemi insisted on taking her time to work out her main policies.
And yesterday she finally came out swinging.
Top of the list was a powerful pledge to abolish Stamp Duty.
It’s always been a bad tax, making it harder for young families to get on the housing ladder.
Scrapping it could yet be a political game-changer.
Kemi also identified the mismanagement of Government in recent years, which has seen a woke agenda take precedence over what the country really needs.
“While Britain was redefining what a woman is, China built five nuclear reactors,” she said.
Quite.
Ignoring Reform and concentrating her fire on Labour, Kemi also set out a properly Conservative vision for the future, squarely focused on putting money back in voters’ pockets and slashing the State.
Railing against the madness of Motability’s free BMWs for depression, she insisted work is better for young people than a life on benefits.
Meanwhile, promises to protect free speech and to quit the European Convention on Human Rights will have widespread backing.
It leaves Sir Keir Starmer isolated as the only mainstream party leader still signed up to the ECHR and its overbearing court.
Kemi is desperate to shake off the past and offer a better future.
Yet she remains dogged by previous Conservatives failure on issues like immigration.
Voters won’t easily forgive the last Government completely losing control.
Next month’s Budget is a crucial moment.
Labour look set to try to tax their way out of trouble — a growth plan surely doomed to fail.
The challenge for the Tories is to convince voters that they — not Reform — are the ones to clear up the mess.
State of Nanny
WHEN governments try to interfere in people’s lives the results are almost universally bad.
So it is with new rules on buy one, get one free, supposedly aimed at tackling obesity.
Nando’s has been forced to limit customers to one Coca-Cola per person, banning refills for the classic fizzy fave.
Now Morrisons has axed hot chocolate and mocha coffees, too
Life is about choice. Governments limit it at their peril.
