Neither Kemi Badenoch Nor Robert Jenrick Can Lead Tories To Electoral Victory, Polling Guru Claims

Posted on 13/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Polling expert John Curtice believes neither Kemi Badenoch nor Robert Jenrick will be able to win back voters and lead the Tories to electoral victory.

The long race to replace Rishi Sunak as the Conservative Party leader is now in its final round and party members have until the end of the month to vote for one of the two remaining candidates.

It comes after the more centrist candidate and then-frontrunner, James Cleverly, was unexpectedly voted out of the contest in the final MPs’ ballot earlier this week.

As the party faithful try to select a candidate who can pull the party back from the brink of their historic electoral defeat back in July, Professor John Curtice examined their pros and cons for The Independent.

He wrote: “Despite their ideological stance, neither Ms Badenoch nor Mr Jenrick is necessarily well set to heal the electoral divide on the right.”

Both are on the right of the party; Badenoch has often slammed “woke” ideas and recently claimed “not all cultures are equally valid”, while Jenrick has been repeatedly calling for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights to help the country crack down on immigration.

But, according to Curtice, they are both “unknown quantities” for most of the public.

Indeed, an Ipsos UK poll from August found 62% of Brits surveyed were not interested in following who would replace Sunak.

He added that they do not appear to understand why the Tories performed so poorly in July, and so are unlikely to try and take the steps “needed for their party to regain voters’ trust”.

He said: “Both candidates appear to believe the fault lies in a failure of the last government to be true to Conservative values.”

But, Curtice noted, that it’s clear from the polls the “party’s precipitous fall from grace was not occasioned by a failure to be truly Conservative” but by Partygate and Liz Truss’s mini-Budget.

And, according to the pollster, neither of them are strong enough to even win back all of the votes the Tories lost to far-right group Reform in July.

He added: “Still, as largely unknown quantities, perhaps either Ms Badenoch or Mr Jenrick will prove able to surprise us – though in order to do so, they are both certainly going to have to reveal a wider range of political talents than they have so far.”

The Tories currently have just 121 seats in parliament, the lowest total ever recorded in the party’s history.

‘No Evidence!’ Ian Hislop Angrily Called Out Ex-Tory Minister Over BBC Audience Bias Claim

Posted on 13/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Political commentator Ian Hislop slammed a former Tory minister when she tried to accuse the BBC of bias this week.

On the comedy quiz show, Have I Got News For You which aired on Friday night, Andrea Jenkyns – who lost her seat to Labour in July – clashed with Hislop, even though they were on the same team.

As host Amol Rajan asked the panel if they thought ex-PM Boris Johnson would come back to frontline politics, Jenkyns said: “I don’t think it’s over for him, no.”

She added: “I still think Boris was one of our better prime ministers.”

That triggered a wave of boos from the crowd, to which Jenkyns said: “I see you’ve selected the audience to people who don’t like Boris or Conservatives.”

As the crowd laughed, Hislop hit back: “You can’t just say, ‘you’ve selected the audience’. You’ve got no evidence for that!

“No proof, it’s just bollocks. This isn’t GB News!”

Hislop sat back, frowning, as the audience cheered.

Jenkyns later clipped the moment and put it on her Instagram account, writing: “I clearly played well to the Conservative and Boris loving audience on #HIGNFY @haveigotnews 😉.”

The former MP, who served as a minister in Johnson and Liz Truss’s cabinets, was also reminded of the time she put her middle finger up at crowds outside No.10 in July 2022.

Rajan joked: “It is amazing isn’t it, how one moment can capture a political career,” before the photo of Jenkyns’ swearing appeared on screen.

He asked her: “What’s going on there?”

Jenkyns said at the time she just thought “sod you” to the protesters who had “got what you wanted” after Johnson resigned.

“Did it feel good?” Rajan said.

She replied: “The funny thing is I don’t really swear, I don’t really use my fingers!”

This Photo Of Female Labour MPs Reveals Another Bleak Reality For The Tory Benches

Posted on 18/07/2024 by Boris Clair

A new photo of the Labour Party has put the Tories’ electoral defeat in another, rather unflattering light.

All of the female MPs elected for Labour gathered for a historic image in Westminster Hall this week, making it pretty clear for their political opponents just how many of them there are.

In fact, there are 189 female Labour MPs now – almost half of the total 411 seats it won in the election.

That’s more than there are Tory MPs (of any gender) in this parliament.

It’s yet another blow to the beleaguered Conservatives, who already endured their worst-ever electoral defeat.

Having secured just 121 seats in the election, the Conservatives now have 29 female MPs – that works out to less than a quarter of its total parliamentary party, a detail which did not escape Labour MPs and party supporters online.

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In 1924 there was uproar in the press when the newly-elected Ellen Wilkinson appeared in Parliament in a green dress. Goodness knows what they’d have made of Labour’s 190 women MPs a hundred years on! pic.twitter.com/L8x7rdnNIO

— Nan Sloane (@NanSloane) July 18, 2024

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In 1924 there was uproar in the press when the newly-elected Ellen Wilkinson appeared in Parliament in a green dress. Goodness knows what they’d have made of Labour’s 190 women MPs a hundred years on! pic.twitter.com/L8x7rdnNIO

— Nan Sloane (@NanSloane) July 18, 2024

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What an phenomenal sight to behold!

We now have 190 @UKLabour women MPs. That’s more than all the Tories MPs.

And our diversity is growing and growing!

Excited to see and feel what a difference a Labour Government will make to my constituents in Brent and the country pic.twitter.com/7ZgMrTNQLz

— Dawn Butler ✊🏾💙 (@DawnButlerBrent) July 17, 2024

","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Dawn Butler ✊🏾💙","author_url":"https://twitter.com/DawnButlerBrent","cache_age":86400,"description":"What an phenomenal sight to behold! We now have 190 @UKLabour women MPs. That’s more than all the Tories MPs.And our diversity is growing and growing!Excited to see and feel what a difference a Labour Government will make to my constituents in Brent and the country pic.twitter.com/7ZgMrTNQLz— Dawn Butler ✊🏾💙 (@DawnButlerBrent) July 17, 2024\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Dawn Butler ✊🏾💙 on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/DawnButlerBrent/status/1813568883275792638","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"6699184be4b0e9707971bdef","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/labour-mps-photo-reveals-harsh-truth-about-tory-benches_uk_6699184be4b0e9707971bdef","entryTagsList":"government,labour,conservatives,@ai_seo_headline","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb","clickToPlayPlayer":"5a777b9b-81fe-41a6-8302-59e9953ee8a2","videoPagePlayer":"19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":7},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"6699184be4b0e9707971bdef","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"government","slug":"government","links":{"relativeLink":"news/government","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/government","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/government"},"relegenceSubjectId":4941492,"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/government/"},{"name":"labour","slug":"labour","links":{"relativeLink":"news/labour","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/labour","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/labour"},"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Labour Party","slug":"labour-party","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/labour-party/"},{"name":"Conservatives","slug":"conservatives","links":{"relativeLink":"news/conservatives","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservatives","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservatives"},"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Conservative Party","slug":"conservative-party","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservative-party/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["

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What an phenomenal sight to behold!

We now have 190 @UKLabour women MPs. That’s more than all the Tories MPs.

And our diversity is growing and growing!

Excited to see and feel what a difference a Labour Government will make to my constituents in Brent and the country pic.twitter.com/7ZgMrTNQLz

— Dawn Butler ✊🏾💙 (@DawnButlerBrent) July 17, 2024

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When Diane Abbott entered parliament in 1987 there were just 40 female MPs in total. Today there are 263 and Labour has 190 of them – more than the entire number of Tory MPs in opposition. Much still to do, but worth taking a moment to recognise how far women have come. https://t.co/roVExNblhx

— Linda Green (@LindaGreenisms) July 18, 2024

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Much still to do, but worth taking a moment to recognise how far women have come. https://t.co/roVExNblhx— Linda Green (@LindaGreenisms) July 18, 2024\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Linda Green on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/LindaGreenisms/status/1813896701142507691","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"6699184be4b0e9707971bdef","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/labour-mps-photo-reveals-harsh-truth-about-tory-benches_uk_6699184be4b0e9707971bdef","entryTagsList":"government,labour,conservatives,@ai_seo_headline","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb","clickToPlayPlayer":"5a777b9b-81fe-41a6-8302-59e9953ee8a2","videoPagePlayer":"19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":7},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"6699184be4b0e9707971bdef","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"government","slug":"government","links":{"relativeLink":"news/government","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/government","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/government"},"relegenceSubjectId":4941492,"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/government/"},{"name":"labour","slug":"labour","links":{"relativeLink":"news/labour","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/labour","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/labour"},"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Labour Party","slug":"labour-party","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/labour-party/"},{"name":"Conservatives","slug":"conservatives","links":{"relativeLink":"news/conservatives","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservatives","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservatives"},"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Conservative Party","slug":"conservative-party","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservative-party/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["

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When Diane Abbott entered parliament in 1987 there were just 40 female MPs in total. Today there are 263 and Labour has 190 of them – more than the entire number of Tory MPs in opposition. Much still to do, but worth taking a moment to recognise how far women have come. https://t.co/roVExNblhx

— Linda Green (@LindaGreenisms) July 18, 2024

The Conservative government has been criticised over the UK’s “nose-diving” record after a “dismal year for human rights”.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has just torn into the UK over the government’s policy decisions from the last year, demolishing its action (or inaction) on migration, LGBTQ+ rights and its foreign policy – to name just a few.

In its 740-page World Report 2024, released on Friday, the specialists left no stone unturned – and concluded that the UK government “eroded domestic human rights protections and reneged on important international obligations.”

The UK director at the organisation, Yasmine Ahmed, added: “The UK had another dismal year for human rights in 2023.”

The report pointed to the government’s 2023 legislation criminalising protesters, the Public Order bill, and its attempts to introduce anti-boycott laws.

HRW criticised the parts of the Conservative Party which are still trying to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights, so that it does not obstruct the Rwanda bill.

Then the scathing report moved onto the new legislation meant to ban those who arrive “irregularly” to the UK – the Illegal Migration Act.

It said this was a “flagrant breach of the UK’s international obligations, including under the UN Refugee Convention”.

“The UK had another dismal year for human rights in 2023.”

– Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director at Human Rights Watch

It also lashed out at the Tories for failing to “take meaningful steps to tackle institutional racism and address past wrongs” within the UK, including those still waiting for compensation from the Windrush scandal.

HRW noted the government had “failed to set social security payments at a level that ensures recipients can enjoy their rights and live with dignity” even amid an ongoing cost of living crisis. It noted how food bank usage, and homelessness, have increased, too.

It then moved onto women’s rights, noticing how the gender pay gap was still a problem, that there have been recent campaign efforts for the government to overhaul outdated abortion laws in England and Wales.

The specialists recognised that there’s been a surge in anti-LGBT violence in the UK too, and called out the “government’s undermining of protections for the rights of trans women and over-representation of LGBT people among the unhoused population.”

PM Rishi Sunak was slammed over the decision to backtrack on key climate policies too, and called to do more to “tackle racial disparities of climate change effects in the UK”.

Britain was praised for its actions highlighting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – but HRW was swift to then criticise it for appearing to be “turning a blind eye to ongoing abuses” in Rwanda amid the plan to deport asylum seekers who arrive “illegally”.

The report added: “UK anti-immigrant policies at home have contributed to the government’s failure to resettle vulnerable Afghans.”

Finally, it touched on the UK’s abstention from a UN Security Council resolution in October calling for full humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the release of Hamas hostages amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

And so, the specialists concluded: “The UK’s nose-diving domestic human rights record undermined its efforts to promote the rule of law and human rights globally.”

These findings come as the Conservatives continue to trail significantly behind Labour in the polls, and less than a year before voters are expected to head to the ballot box.