Badenoch's Scottish Welcome Contrasts Starkly with Starmer's Exclusion
The difference in reception between Kemi Badenoch and Sir Keir Starmer by their respective Scottish parties could not be more pronounced. When Badenoch arrived to deliver her keynote speech at the Scottish Conservative conference, she was greeted with a red carpet and prime afternoon slot on the opening day.
Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay introduced her enthusiastically with his characteristic blend of praise and humour. Findlay claimed she is "hammering Keir Starmer's floundering Labour government" and suggested that if Prime Minister's Questions were a boxing match, the "lightweight London Left-wing human rights lawyer" would be "splattered" and "sparked out on the canvas."
Unity Display Versus Labour Civil War
Following his glowing introduction, Findlay sat alongside Badenoch during media grillings, presenting an obvious and striking show of unity. This stands in sharp contrast to Sir Keir Starmer, who has not been invited to Scottish Labour's conference in Paisley next week after Scottish leader Anas Sarwar demanded his resignation in a humiliating failed coup attempt.
Laughing uproariously with Findlay about the civil war engulfing Labour, Badenoch remarked: "We are very proud that we are a united team, a strong team, and we work closely together. Labour are showing that they are a divided party, the SNP are all over the place – you look at all these allegations that have come through – the Reform leader doesn't know whether he is coming or going. We are the only party that is serious and focused on policy and the Scottish people."
Badenoch's Growing Scottish Presence
This visit marked Badenoch's second trip to Edinburgh in just over a month. She joked about sacking her former leadership rival Robert Jenrick during last month's visit and celebrating the occasion with cocktails that "tasted especially delicious that day for some reason" at the Johnnie Walker Experience in the capital.
This growing Scottish engagement gives her confidence to confirm she intends to play a prominent role in the Tory campaign north of the border ahead of May's Holyrood elections. Meanwhile, it remains uncertain whether Sir Keir will visit alongside a Scottish leader who wants him removed from office.
"I think it is extraordinary that the leader of the Labour Party in Scotland is asking a Prime Minister with such a huge majority to resign," said Badenoch. "It shows that the Labour Party are in government but they don't know what to do with the power that they have. They've got no purpose, they've got no plans, they are all at sea."
Polling Landscape and Reform Party Challenge
When asked who would last longer between Sarwar and Starmer, Badenoch admitted she doesn't know and turned to Findlay for his perspective. He responded: "Anas Sarwar tried to assassinate the Prime Minister and ended up shooting himself in the foot. He has just exposed his own weakness and he is completely floundering just now with a Prime Minister who he is not even going to welcome into Scotland because he is so toxic to the electorate."
Recent polling by More in Common placed the Tories in fourth position at Holyrood, with Nigel Farage's Reform party second behind the SNP. However, pollsters note that while Reform is competitive in many key constituencies, they are not actually on course to win them – potentially handing these seats to the SNP instead.
Attacking Reform's Position
The Conservatives are keen to push this line of attack, highlighting Reform's new Scottish leader Malcolm Offord's confirmation that the party has pro-independence candidates and will only rule out an independence referendum for ten years.
Badenoch expressed deep distrust of Reform, stating: "The thing that I keep telling people is a vote for Reform helps the SNP on its pro-independence march. Reform just say whatever to whoever is listening. If you are pro-independence, they will tell you they are pro-independence; if you are pro-Union they will tell you they are pro-Union; if you want more welfare they will tell you they will give you more welfare; if you want to cut welfare they will say that to you again."
She added: "They have said everything to everybody. Under the same leader they've had multiple U-turns – almost as many as Keir Starmer has. Many people think of Reform as a protest vote, not as a party that is actually going to be in charge of anything. We need to make sure that they can see that the Conservative Party is the only serious party focused on the policies that can deliver a better life for people in Scotland."
Regional List Strategy and Coalition Questions
In her conference speech, Badenoch launched a push to persuade voters to back the Tories on the peach regional list ballot paper to stop the SNP, similar to strategies employed in 2016 and 2021. When asked whether she would consider working with Reform to keep out the SNP, she responded: "Well, if they're going to be voting pro-independence as well, then what's the point? Reform have more in common with the SNP than they do with us."
On ruling out such cooperation, she stated: "I certainly ruled out any kind of 'unite the Right' at national level. Where you have proportional representation and you don't get outright majorities, parties need to work with each other. For the Conservatives, this is yet another reason why we need to fight for as many votes as possible, because every other party is a basket case."
Personal Attacks and Ethnicity Comments
In a sign of growing desire to attack Reform, Badenoch described the party as "full of drama queens with no serious plan" and claimed some in its ranks believe she is not British, nor are her children. She clarified she hasn't received racist comments directly but was referring to Reform's Gorton and Denton by-election candidate Matthew Goodwin refusing to disown claims that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds were not necessarily British.
"This would apply to my children as well based on the colour of their skin," she explained, adding that comments about ethnicity bring division. When asked if she believes there are racists in Reform, she avoided direct answers, saying: "It's for people to make up their own mind. I can say what the person has said and then people can make their judgment."
Looking Toward Holyrood Elections
Badenoch insists she will play a prominent part in the Holyrood election campaign because she and Findlay are "a team." She emphasized: "I have been trying to show people that the Conservative Party are a new party under new leadership: new leadership in Scotland, new leadership in Westminster. We work closely together and we want to make sure we do right by people."
"Mistakes have been made in the past – we don't shy away from that. What we do is learn from these mistakes and we've got a better offer. We've got the right offer to Scotland," she concluded, positioning the Conservatives as the only serious alternative in a political landscape she characterizes as dominated by divided and directionless opponents.
