Kemi Badenoch’s Opposition by Twitter Meme

After her first 100 disastrous days as Conservative leader, some in the party are starting to question whether she will even last out the year

You can tell how well a political leader is doing by the quality of the people willing to serve alongside them.

When David Cameron first became Conservative leader he quickly filled his top team with former and future leaders, big beasts from the past, and rising stars in the party.

While his political project ultimately ended in failure, it was clear from early on that he was likely heading for government.

The same cannot be said about Kemi Badenoch, or any of the people she has chosen to surround herself with.

To call Badenoch’s Shadow Cabinet lightweight is to indulge in understatement at an almost insulting level.

Even in its most senior ranks, the line-up is embarrassingly flimsy.

Badenoch’s current Shadow Chancellor is Mel Stride - perhaps the least well known occupant of that office in living memory.

Yet to call him anonymous, would be to imbue him with a sense of mystery and intrigue so undeserved as to be comical.

Less a political presence than an absence, he is the single most underwhelming selection for that role in modern times.

And yet when compared to his immediate colleagues, Stride rises as if a colossus.