Leading the Conservative Party after their recent electoral calamity was always going to be one of the toughest gigs in politics. A return to high office within five years should be impossible: too many safe seats, for instance, became marginal. But the obscene unpopularity of the Labour administration makes me pause: could a Conservative comeback be on the cards? To project anything about the next election with certainty this far out is foolish. But writing the Tories off entirely is even more so.
But there are two forces stymieing the recovery: the first is Nigel Farage, incredibly popular with the Tory base. The second is Kemi Badenoch. The pair are competing for oxygen.
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