Kemi Badenoch ‘has to adapt’ her rhetoric to take on Andy Burnham

Kemi Badenoch repeatedly questioned how Burnham would pay for his early flurry of policies in her speech in London on Thursday morning. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA View image in fullscreen Kemi Badenoch repeatedly questioned how Burnham would pay for his early flurry of policies in her speech in London on Thursday morning. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Analysis Kemi Badenoch ‘has to adapt’ her rhetoric to take on Andy Burnham Peter Walker Senior political correspondent Conservative leader is becoming more confident and forging a message for her party, but faces a new opponent “So, Andy Burnham seems like a nice guy.” Those were the slightly unexpected opening words of Kemi Badenoch’s first speech since the change in prime minister. But make no mistake: she was there to bury her opponent. Even Badenoch-sceptics inside the Conservative party and farther afield agree the Tory leader is becoming more confident, and has been able to forge an increasingly coherent message for her party, one based on a promise of economic competence. She does, nonetheless, face a different challenge now Burnham has replaced Keir Starmer. Aside from being a fresh face with a likely polling bounce, the former Greater Manchester mayor is more of a media natural, with the ability to deflect Badenoch’s jibes using self-deprecating humour, such as a viral social media response last month after the Tory leader dismissed him as a “pair of eyelashes and a black T-shirt”. “She has to adapt – it’s like with anything when your opponent changes,” one senior Conservative said. “As a personality, Burnham is much more likable [than Starmer], and comes with a fair degree of popularity. She needs to wait for weaknesses, and one immediately seems to be: where is the money coming from for all these giveaways?” And that was one of the main themes of Badenoch’s speech on Thursday morning, held in muggy sunshine on a rooftop terrace in central London. Labelling Burnham’s philosophy as “cap one price and send the bill somewhere else”, she repeatedly questioned how the new prime minister would pay for his early flurry of policies. The other central theme was ambition, Badenoch calling Burnham a prime minister “with small answers to big problems”. View image in fullscreen Kemi Badenoch now has a schedule of regular press conferences and lengthy media Q&As, often without a particular policy to announce. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Such message discipline would be necessary in taking on the new operation in No 10, one senior Conservative MP said, especially given Badenoch’s occasional tendency to get caught up in culture-war debates. The MP said: “When she first became leader there was a bit of a worry that she would just talk endlessly about culture-war issues. But that hasn’t happened. The focus should be on the economy and jobs, which it currently is.” A manifestation of Badenoch’s increased confidence is a schedule of regular press conferences and lengthy media Q&As, often without a par