Can Kemi Badenoch make the Tories electable again? – podcast | Kemi Badenoch

After almost four months, the Conservatives have finally elected a new leader – their sixth in nine years. Kemi Badenoch, a former software engineer who prides herself on “straight-talking”, said it was an “enormous honour to lead the party I love”. But the party she joined in her 20s was very different to the one she leads today, left with just 121 MPs after a historic defeat and an ageing membership. Yet Badenoch insists she can make the party win again – by the next election.

The Spectator columnist Isabel Hardman explains how Badenoch’s background has shaped her principles. From a childhood in Nigeria to university in the UK to working at the Spectator where, Hardman says, it was clear she was someone who had “huge ambition” and “clearly felt [she] had a lot to offer national politics”.

Helen Pidd hears how Badenoch’s reputation for not suffering fools gladly may cause problems when she has to soothe sensitive Tory MPs and how difficult it may be for her to appoint a shadow cabinet with so few MPs to choose from. “I think it is going to look like a very fresh frontbench,” says Hardman. But will it be enough to win back Tory voters?