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The Fashion Central
George Hughes

Keir Starmer Could Hand Kemi Badenoch a Surprise Win Without Realising

Photo Credit: Getty Images

After what feels like years of chaos, backstabbing, and leadership swaps, the Conservative Party is finally starting to show a glimmer of focus again. But if you walked the halls of Westminster right now, you’d think a full-blown meltdown was around the corner. With local elections just days away, the whispering has already started. Some backbenchers are quietly floating the idea of yet another leadership change.

Anonymous WhatsApp chats are buzzing. And once again, the self-sabotage cycle seems dangerously close to kicking off. It’s madness, and it needs to stop. The Conservative Party is barely back on its feet. Another self-inflicted crisis could finish the job and wipe the party out for good.

Yes, local election results might not be pretty. That’s no surprise. But to act like Labour has the next general election in the bag is to ignore one major reality: Keir Starmer is struggling. Badly. His muddled stances on key issues and his increasingly bland performances are starting to wear thin with voters.

He’s not offering a bold alternative. He’s just banking on not being Tory. But it’s starting to catch up with him. People are noticing the lack of real vision, the hesitations, the contradictions. The honeymoon is fading fast.

At the same time, Reform UK is snapping up angry voters on the right, fuelled by frustration that once drove UKIP and the Brexit Party. That’s a real challenge for the Conservatives — no question. But it’s exactly why now is not the time to panic.

Voters aren’t just angry. They’re exhausted. Years of U-turns, infighting, and short-lived leadership have left people cynical. Another switch at the top wouldn’t solve anything — it would just prove the worst suspicions right. The party is more obsessed with its dramas than with running the country.

If the Conservatives pull the trigger on a new leader now, it’s not just a distraction. It’s political suicide. It would confirm every bad headline and doom them at the next general election.

This is the moment where calm heads have to prevail. Take Kemi Badenoch — she’s keeping a low profile, staying out of the circus, and getting on with the job. She gets that rebuilding a party takes more than press stunts and reshuffles. It takes time, grit, and a bit of patience.

There’s still a path to survival. Starmer isn’t a sure thing. Reform might just be a protest vote that fades. But none of that matters if the Conservatives implode — again.

The real task now is unity. Stability. A clear message that voters can trust. Not more gossip, more plotting, or dreams of miracle candidates swooping in at the eleventh hour.

The Conservatives used to be the steady hand. The grown-ups in the room. If they want to win again, they need to act like it. Enough with the internal chaos. If they keep cool heads and stop turning on each other, they might just shock everyone.

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