By Luke Charles

After its disastrous election campaign in the summer, the Tory party has decided to keep in with their new-found tradition of electing doomed leaders, by asking Kemi Badenoch to take the reins of the party for the foreseeable.

Badenoch is undoubtedly a formidable politician, with her seven-year rise to the top of the Tory party being an impressive show of career politics. Becoming the first black leader of a UK party is a notable achievement, and her background is a testament to her grit and determination. Yet, however impressive she may be, she is not the change leader everyone thinks she is.

She represents a tired, backwards, Johnson-era Conservative party, who are hell-bent on fabrication, distraction, and the promotion of ‘true conservative values’ (whatever those may be). Her defense of partygate, appointment of Johnson loyalists to her shadow cabinet (hello Priti Patel), and embracing of culture-wars, shows that she is scared to change a party which is still getting over its Boris-shaped heartbreak.

Russell Findlay up north offers little contrast to Badenoch’s leadership, despite his own assurances of change. He vowed to ’work constructively’ with Badenoch, citing the threat of gender ideology as their main shared value.

Whilst this focus on gender ideology might seem like an easy win for both Tories, it shows that they are not focused on anything but their own survival. The voters they must win back want solutions on the economy, foreign policy, housing. Weakly emulating the master distractor Boris Johnson just won’t cut it anymore.

Whilst helping the Conservative party is the last thing on my mind, their move away from Cameron and Davidson-era conservatism is hurting them immensely. They must move back to their seemingly sensible, One-Nation principles, and stop engaging in culture wars which only lower the public’s trust.

Right now, with these leaders in Westminster and Holyrood, I cannot see the Tories moving away from the Johnson era of conservatism which ruined not only our politics, but our country, for decades.