Kemi Badenoch's Trump Delusion

The Conservative party leader's allies believe she can join the President elect in riding a populist wave back to power. But can she really?

Donald Trump’s election victory has given hope to some allies of new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch that she could one day repeat the same trick.

As one supportive MP told the I newspaper this week: “Keep watching this space.”

So is Badenoch really the Conservative party’s Trump? Let’s examine the evidence.

Since winning the leadership contest, Badenoch has appointed a new top team to take on Keir Starmer.

So far this has included:

• A Shadow Justice Secretary who wants to rip up Britain's international human rights obligations

• A Shadow Chancellor who wants to strip women of their maternity rights

• A Shadow ‘Net Zero’ Secretary who is funded by a founding backer of a leading climate science denial group

• A Shadow Foreign Secretary who was sacked as a minister for holding secret meetings with the Israeli Government

So far, so Trumpian.

Meanwhile, Badenoch used her first appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions to demand that Starmer’s Government apologise to her party’s new American Idol.

But does what Badenoch’s supporters describe as her “anti-woke crusade” really make her the “perfect Tory leader” in these Trumpian times?

Here’s how I think things are actually going to pan out.