There were a few bright spots for the Tories — winning the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral race over Labour — but even Badenoch was quick to say on Friday that it was a “very difficult set of elections.”
Conservative MPs were already expecting a terrible night. The Tories have been consistently polling below both Reform and Labour over the past few months. The party also had the most to lose Thursday, with the 1,641 seats up for grabs last contested during a bounce in popularity for Boris Johnson back in 2021 .
Yet the brutal and widespread nature of the results has sent shockwaves through the Tory ranks — and left them openly questioning Badenoch’s comeback strategy.
“It’s all pretty dire for [Badenoch] frankly,” one Conservative grandee, granted anonymity like others in this piece to speak frankly, said. “People are not really sure what she stands for and that’s the problem.”
Is the worst yet to come?
Badenoch’s allies point out that the public are still angry with the Conservative Party after its 14 years in power, which ended with soaring migration numbers, economic calamity and endless political psychodrama.
One Tory official said: “It’s no surprise that less than a year after we have more to do to prove to voters that our party is changing under new leadership.”
