Badenoch sets out her vision to redefine Tory party – but few are listening

Rivals lurk in the aisles at sparsely attended conference at which the party leader ignores the threat from Reform

When Kemi Badenoch was knocking on doors in her Essex constituency in the run up to the last election, she was confronted by a former Tory voter who told her: I don't know what the blue rosette you're wearing means any more."

While she went on to retain her seat, Badenoch's majority was slashed by almost 25,000 and the Conservative party as a whole suffered its worst defeat in parliamentary history.