There’s a smell in the air again. Not the kind of musty pong that rolls in with the political tide after a local election collapse or another reshuffle of cardboard cut-outs. No, this is sharper… a stench of manoeuvre. A distinct Dougie-and-Gove musk. You know it when it’s in the room. You feel it crawling up your spine.
And so here we are. It’s not even a year since Kemi Badenoch won the leadership contest and already the machinery in the shadows has clicked into gear.
I don’t need to name names, but I will anyway: Dougie Smith, Michael Gove, and their hangers-on have dusted off their well-thumbed playbook and are pushing the next shiny thing across the chessboard. Enter, James Cleverly.
Yes, Cleverly. The man who couldn’t even commit to leaving the ECHR. The man with fingerprints on the Chagos mess. The same Cleverly who blinked every time the party needed steel. And now we’re meant to believe he’s the cavalry?
You’ll start to see the headlines everywhere… the choreographed leaks, the soft-lens briefings about “party unity.” Kemi brings back Cleverly. Oh please. Do we look stupid? This wasn’t a bold act of unifying leadership, this was an ambush disguised as reconciliation. They’re grooming him as the replacement, the “safe pair of hands” to ferry the party back into the centre-left mush of inoffensive nothingness. The only thing James Cleverly is going to lead is the final lap in the long march into irrelevance if they’re not careful.
Let’s be clear: this is Dougie and Gove’s last hurrah. They know Jenrick can’t be puppeteered. They know he doesn’t owe them anything. And worst of all (for them), he’s actually popular with the party grassroots and the public. He’s crisp. He’s clear. He gets what the base wants: real borders, real reform, and real conservatism. So naturally, they’re terrified of him. They won’t be able to control him.
Instead, they’re recycling the same old strategy: destabilise the leader, sow doubt, release “internal” party data. Sound familiar? It should. Just look at the latest whispers: Conservative membership down 8,000 since Kemi’s leadership win. How convenient. The Spectator runs it. CCHQ doesn’t deny it. Now we’re meant to believe this is all organic? Don’t insult us.
They’ll say it’s the Reform threat. That the fall in membership is due to “right-wing overreaction.” Nonsense. People are leaving because they’ve had enough of being played and not being actually conservative. They’ve had enough of seeing their party hijacked by people who couldn’t now win a parish council seat if their lives depended on it. The electorate sees through this… and the Tory grassroots certainly do.
Let me be blunt: Kemi Badenoch was a disaster from the beginning. Some of us haven’t forgotten how she helped torpedo Boris. She stood behind Sunak, then vaulted over the wreckage to seize the crown for herself. And for what? A “Renewal 2030” vision that made Ed Davey look like a conviction politician?
And yet, somehow, she still wasn’t the worst option. Because now the worst option is being pushed on us in a new suit with a friendly grin James Cleverly, the immaculate placeholder. The prototype of post-conservative conservatism: polite, pliable, powerless.
Let me say it now so no one can pretend they weren’t warned: if the party tries to force Cleverly on us, it is finished. Kaput. Nothing but a fading brand behind Reform’s rise. The blue rosette will become a punchline.
The members don’t want Cleverly. They don’t want managed decline. They want Robert Jenrick.
Say his name out loud… you’ll feel the difference. He gets the culture war. He’s not afraid of the hard stuff. He talks about sovereignty like it actually means something. And have you seen him online? He’s a machine. While others are peddling vapid platitudes, Jenrick is slicing through nonsense with clarity and courage. It’s no wonder Gove’s lot fear him. They can’t control him.
And so now they’re trying to kneecap Kemi — not because they want to save the party, but because they want to save themselves. It’s about keeping a sliver of relevance, an invite to the next think tank dinner, a seat at the table of a party they hollowed out with their cowardice.
Watch what happens next. There will be more stories about Kemi’s “leadership problems.” More leaks. More “anonymous MPs” raising “serious concerns.” All from the same tired operatives who’ve spent years swapping principles for consultancy contracts.
Well, not this time. We see you. We know what you’re doing. And we’re not buying it.
Kemi was never the answer. But James Cleverly is barely even the question. If the party has a future — and that’s a big if right now — it lies with Robert Jenrick.
Choose him, or lose everything.
The hour is late. The mask is slipping. The real battle has begun.
By Claire Bullivant
