Kemi Badenoch is killing the Conservative Party

Sure, the Tories would always have a handful of cranks who would nudge, wink, and show a bit of ankle to their more radical cousins, but these were usually minor figures, or at the very least would get to spend little time in the sun. On the whole, the parliamentary Conservative Party would sway, ideologically, from the centre to the right, but would never spend too long toying with naked extremism.

That is no longer the case. 

It would be tough to try and pinpoint exactly what happened. Some of it definitely came from the EU referendum and the Brexit win, where a fringe of the party was able to take over, and kick out most of the non-believers. The internet also ought to take some of the blame, both because of its potential for radicalisation, but also for its ability to make people enter political echo chambers, then refuse to leave them. 

Finally, Donald Trump.. He has been one of the most major figures on the global political stage for nearly a decade now, and his influence can be felt across the world. Of course Britain is feeling it too. There may be more reasons behind this persistent yanking of the Overton window, but that’s another story for another day.

The point worth making here is that we should, at the very least, acknowledge that something has gone very wrong within what we once called “the mainstream right”. Earlier this week, Kemi Badenoch appeared on the academic turned alt right pundit Jordan Peterson’s podcast, and gushed about the interview afterwards. “I could have spoken to Dr Jordan B Peterson for hours…”, she bragged on social media. 

Peterson, lest we forget, once said he would attempt to cut university “postmodern neo-Marxist cult classes by 75% across the west”, believes that “masculine spirit is under assault”, refuses to use the correct pronouns of his transgender students, and is, naturally, a climate change denier. 

Last summer, he also welcomed Tommy Robinson onto his podcast, describing him as a “British journalist and activist who first became an establishment target after reporting on the grooming gangs in Luton. From then on, he and his family have been smeared and punished for attempting to out those who are enabling Islamic extremism”. 

Because one chummy podcast isn’t enough, Badenoch and Peterson are also speaking at the same conference this week in London, as have been a collection of populist figures including Nigel Farage, Republican House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson, and Trumpist poodle Vivek Ramaswamy.

Now, as a thought experiment, try to imagine what the reaction would have been like if, ten years ago, a major Tory figure had done all this in the space of one week. Imagine what people would have said if a Conservative leader had described “diversity policies and climate activism” as “poison”, as Badenoch did in her speech.

It isn’t certain that this MP would have lost the whip, but there definitely would have been some internal disagreement over how to deal with them.

More centrist figures would have asked for them to get kicked out of the party, and others would have struggled to defend them. In any case, it would have dominated the headlines for some time. 

Now, though? It’s just business as usual. Badenoch, the party leader, said and did these things, just as she did and said others last month, and will say and do more next week. A handful of eyebrows were slightly raised, then came down again quite promptly.

Isn’t this a worrying state of affairs? Like the proverbial frog in the gently boiling water, we’ve watched things get worse bit by bit, but are yet to stop and hit the panic button. The best point at which to do it would have been around the Liz Truss premiership but hey, better late than never. 

The traditional British right is currently at risk of disappearing for good, but it shouldn’t be a cause for celebration – whatever’s coming next is obviously worse. It’s time to raise the alarm.