Sitting in Brussels, or one of the EU’s 27 chancelleries, one could be forgiven for tuning out the latest psychodramas in Britain’s Conservative party. After all, the country has a new Labour prime minister who is a pro-European keen to build upon the “reset” begun by Keir Starmer. Who cares what a party in opposition thinks about anything when it is still reeling from its landslide 2024 defeat, and languishing third in the opinion polls as it haemorrhages support from its right flank? It is easy to dismiss Kemi Badenoch and her party as a sideshow.
That would be a mistake. Following her latest pronouncements, Badenoch has effectively committed the Conservatives to a policy of conflict, and possibly even rupture, with the EU. She recently suggested in a newspaper article that anyone who opposes her policy of withdrawing from the European convention on human rights (ECHR) or ditching net zero commitments would be considered “not serious”, and thus excluded from consideration as a Conservative candidate at the next election. She then withdrew the party whip (a UK parliamentary euphemism for “kicked out”) from Gavin Barwell, a member of the House of Lords who criticised Badenoch’s stance. Such a choice revives memories of Boris Johnson’s purge of pro-Europeans from the party.
Westminster has mostly viewed this through a domestic lens: a Tory leader prepared to jettison centre-right supporters in the hope of preventing further rightwing defections to Reform UK. What has been missing is the European dimension. Were the Conservatives to return to power – which polls suggest is possible in alliance with Reform UK – Badenoch’s ideological red lines will resurrect the ghost of “no deal” Brexit. » | Simon Nixon | Thursday, July 23, 2026
Kemi Badenoch is yet another very dangerous politician. The Conservatives were mad to make her their leader. Her ideas are unappealing and anti-EU, and she does not have mass appeal. She is no Margaret Thatcher! If I am not greatly mistaken, Kemi Badenoch will end up as yet another failed Conservative leader in a long, recent list of them. And as for her wish to withdraw the UK from the ECHR — well that stinks! By the way, I write as a one-time dyed-in-the-wool Conservative voter. — © Mark Alexander
