Badenoch vs Jenrick: Who will be better at ‘taking on Farage?’
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Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch both appeal to the populist right, but who will do more to win back the voters who swung to Reform in the general election?
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In brief…
- Tory leadership race finalists Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch have both made right-wing populist pitches as part of their campaigns.
- But with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK presenting a similar kind of politics, which candidate will be better at taking him on?
- The News Agents say Jenrick’s stance is clear, but Badenoch’s will be intriguing to watch.
What’s the story?
With moderate Tory James Cleverly out of the race after his shock elimination - just Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick remain.
But whichever right-wing candidate wins, more challenges lie ahead - Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
After the Conservative Party’s worst-ever defeat in the general election, many put the loss down to Reform snatching up votes. Indeed, the populist party came second in 98 seats.
Both Jenrick and Badenoch are largely thought of as being on the party’s right wing, but what differences are there between them?
And how could this affect their abilities to confront the political challenge that lies ahead.
How might Jernick take the fight to Reform?
Jenrick has quite clearly laid out how he plans to take on Reform.
He has said the Tories need to make Reform “redundant” and put Farage “out of business”, rejecting any kind of potential deal with his party.
Jenrick said: “What we need to do as a party is bring back those voters that we lost, the millions of voters we lost to Reform in the last election.“
And you do that by having a leader that has credibility on the issues that are of concern to Reform voters, and by adopting very clear positions, as I have done, not just in this leadership election, but for many months.”So, as Emily notes, “we know where he stands on Reform.”
Part of his pitch has been to promote some of the policies that Reform themselves would support, such as leaving the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) - something Farage has also been calling for. Emily adds that Jenrick will “carry on generating this Brexity language in the hope that he wins back Reform voters.”
How will Badenoch tackle Reform?
Unlike Jenrick, Badenoch’s plans to take on Reform appear to be less clear cut.
But so far, she has said that Farage’s party are not “real conservatives” or “serious people”.
Despite this, she has acknowledged that she does need to win back Reform voters if the Tories want any shot of getting back in government.
She said: “The Reform voters are our voters. But actually the Reform manifesto did not add up. They want a big state, actually, when you look at some of the things they are talking about, the state would balloon.
“Reform are not serious, but it is now our job to make sure that we squeeze them out and push them away from the bit of the political spectrum they are on. They are parking our tanks on our lawn and we need to get them off.”
But actions speak louder and words, and her more “subtle approach to policy” somewhat differs from voices on the populist right, even if it “doesn't always sound that way when she speaks”, Emily says.
Unlike Jenrick, Badenoch rejects the plan to leave the ECHR.
Lewis says: “She has actually been more measured on the ECHR when she was in government. There are still right wing Tory MPs who haven't forgiven her.”
There was also pressure on Badenoch, when she was business secretary, to “repeal all inherited EU law, and she refused to do so”, Lewis adds.
What’s The News Agents take?
While they may differ slightly in their approach, Lewis argues that both candidates are essentially saying something very similar - “We need to move in the direction of the populist right.”
It’s just a case that Jenrick, Lewis says, is doing this more overtly than Badenoch.
Emily says she wants to hear Badenoch “take on Farage”, given we already know where Jenrick stands.
“What is her relationship with Farage? She’s not dancing with him like Priti Patel,” she asks.
Lewis says that this is what is interesting about Badenoch.
He says: “Badenoch is the candidate with the more potential, or at least [the most] intriguing, right?
“I think Farage could deal with Jenrick with no difficulty whatsoever. He would just say, ‘this is just another Tory boy who comes along, tells you what you want to hear, and he’s going to betray you.”
“It’s harder to know exactly how he could deal with, or exactly what the kind of line would be, with Badenoch.”
Listen in full on The News Agents.
