BRUTALLY HONEST! 'TORIES NEED TO STOP ACTING LIKE LABOUR'

Kemi Badenoch blames loss of voter support on 'talking Right but governing Left'

- Steph Spyro

KEMI Badenoch has warned that the Tories must return to traditional party values to stand any chance of electoral success.

She said the last Government's mistake was that it "talked Right but governed Left". The Tory leadership hopeful, one of six candidates aiming to replace Rishi Sunak, said the party had failed because it was "sounding like Conservatives but acting like Labour".

Speaking at the launch of her Renewal 2030 campaign in London yesterday, the Shadow Communities Secretary said: "We need to reboot, reset, and rewire." Mrs Badenoch stressed: "Government should do fewer things, but what it does, it should do with brilliance.

"A Government that tries to do everything will likely end up achieving nothing.

This was one of our mistakes." She said there were a number of cases where the Tories had advocated "big state rather than limited state", citing the handling of the net zero agenda.

Sir Keir Starmer's Labour won a landslide victory at the July 4 election when the number of Tory MPs in the Commons was slashed to just 121.

But Mrs Badenoch suggested that Labour is only in Government because people no longer believed in the Conservatives.

MPs returned to Westminster yesterday after the summer break, with the Tory leadership candidates seeking support ahead of tomorrow's first round of voting.

At least one of the six contenders who also include James Cleverly, Dame Priti Patel, Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick will be knocked out of the race after the ballot.

Mrs Badenoch said the leader needed to be honest with the public and accused opponents, who are committed to leaving the European Convention of Human Rights, of offering "easy answers" on illegal migration.