Can Kemi really save the Tories? | with Lee Cain
Coffee House Shots
The Spectator
4.4 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Labour leadership contest may be rumbling on in the background, but today Coffee House turns to the Conservatives – and whether Kemi Badenoch can really revive a party still reeling from electoral collapse.
Her allies argue that Badenoch is beginning to cut through: from her conference speech to her response to Rachel Reeves’s Budget, and her decision to sack Robert Jenrick. Her personal ratings have improved, even as the Tory brand remains deeply damaged. But is that enough? Can Badenoch turn the Conservatives into a serious vehicle for change? Is the Tory brand beyond repair? And could the party eventually find itself forced into some kind of deal with Reform?
Tim Shipman is joined by Noa Hoffman and Boris Johnson's former director of communications Lee Cain to discuss Kemi’s dilemma – and whether the Conservative party is dead, or merely resting.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Subscribe to The Spectator and get 12 weeks of Britain's most incisive politics coverage, unrivaled books and arts reviews, and so much more, all for just £12. |
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| 0:27.4 | Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots, The Spectator's Daily Politics Podcast. |
| 0:33.0 | I am Tim Shipman, Political, Edge of The Spectator. |
| 0:35.4 | And we're going to do something a little bit unusual today. |
| 0:38.5 | While the Labour Leadership Contest brackets the Makerfield by-election continues in the background, |
| 0:44.0 | we are going to talk today about the Tories. |
| 0:46.7 | I know that's what you've all been waiting for. |
| 0:48.8 | And I have two very special guests, Noah Hoffman, the political correspondent for the magazine, |
| 0:53.6 | who has written |
| 0:54.2 | a piece which effectively outlines the argument that Kenny Badenox's team are making |
| 0:59.6 | about the progress she's made, and I'm also very pleased to be joined by my old mucker, Mr. |
| 1:06.0 | Lee Kane, the founding director, Uber, commander and lord and master of Charlesby Strategy, or Charles |
| 1:15.1 | by Strategy, one of Britain's leading public affairs companies where he advises businessman on how |
| 1:21.2 | not to do things, having witnessed it as Boris Johnson's director of communications and |
| 1:25.8 | nearly his chief of Staff. |
| 1:29.3 | Anyway, welcome to you both. |
| 1:31.4 | So we had the local elections. |
| 1:35.9 | The narrative, I mean, my argument would be that the Tories have done rather well at spinning, |
| 1:39.3 | that they sort of emerged from this in decent shape. |
| 1:41.5 | Noah, just take us through the column. |
... |
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