We can learn a lot from Kemi Badenoch by watching her at inquiries. For one thing, she’s good at them. While other high-profile political figures have fallen apart under the relentless questioning of the barristers tasked with uncovering the truth of government failures (Matt Hancock’s emotional breakdown at Module 2 of the Covid Inquiry in November 2023 springs to mind), Badenoch seems to view them as an opportunity.
A few months ago, freshly appointed as leader of a party still grappling with a seismic electoral defeat, Badenoch used her time as a witness at the Post Office Inquiry to put forward her philosophy for how the government machine is broken. She blamed a civil service burdened by “too much vanilla” and a lack of “common sense” in Whitehall for the glacial pace of the Horizon compensation scheme – the same culprits we often hear cited by the Tory leader as responsible for everything from Britain’s low productivity to high immigration.
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