Speaking to GB News after the Conservative Party conference, Badenoch doubled down on her claim that the party was “under new management.” She told viewers: “Your viewers will know that sometimes you have a football team that's disappointing. There's a new captain, there's a new coach, there's a new owner, effectively – which is all me.”
The remark reflects a leader who, according to those around her, is not only outperforming her party in opinion polls but is actively remaking the Tory brand in her own right-leaning image. The broad ideological direction was set earlier this year when Badenoch explicitly said centrist ideas were no longer wanted. While some moderate figures remain in her shadow cabinet, they have signed up to an agenda that includes opposition to net zero and a commitment to withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights.
One shadow cabinet minister described Badenoch's approach to policy as deeply personal. “With policies it's not about chasing certain groups of voters,” they said. “She focuses on what she thinks needs to be fixed, what she feels is wrong.” The same minister warned that talking her out of a decision was virtually impossible: “It's not going to happen – it's tablets of stone. She's not going to change her mind. She knows what the policies have to be.”
The conference saw the party announce a policy to extend free childcare to households with incomes above £100,000, a move intended to remove a “cliff edge” in the current system. Allies say the decision was made by Badenoch personally because she believes it is the right thing to do, rather than as a tactical appeal to a specific voter group.
While Badenoch's self-confidence has long been noted, her critics within the party worry that the centralisation of power and ideological purity risks alienating the moderate wing that the party needs to win back voters after its heavy defeat at the last general election.