Kemi Badenoch is right to bide her time

Kemi Badenoch has only been Conservative leader for two months. The next general election is likely to be held in 2028 or 2029. Yet there have been persistent rumblings that she must set out clear policies if she is to win back support from voters who left the Tory fold. In The Financial Times, Robert Shrimsley warned that Badenoch “does not have as much time as she thinks”, and that “she does not have the luxury of leisure to figure it out while a grateful nation waits and watches”.

Shrimsley has previously won a prize for satire, so perhaps this was an unannounced return to the genre. But the idea that the leader of the Opposition should be announcing detailed policy plans at this stage of the electoral cycle is absurd. It is unnecessary, as the amount of attention voters are currently willing to grant the Conservatives is tiny; but it is also actively dangerous and potentially counter-productive.