Kemi Badenoch has addressed the Conservative conference in her bid for the Tory leadership. The shadow housing minister said as leader of the party she would be able to "sell Conservatism again". "I'm somebody who gets cut through, I am somebody who communicates our values and I always start from first principles," she said.
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00:00I want to be leader of our party because it means something very special to me and I don't want to see it die.
00:08I think the result we had at the last election shows that we are at an existential point.
00:15There is a party to the right that is challenging us.
00:18People across the political spectrum don't know what we stand for.
00:22I think that I can help sell conservatism again.
00:27Confident conservatism.
00:29I am somebody who gets cut through.
00:32I am somebody who communicates our values and I always start from first principles.
00:36I can do it and that's why I want to be Tory leader.
00:42It was after I actually stood in 2022 and I did much better than everybody expected.
00:50Quite often people stand for leadership for different reasons.
00:53In 2022, I was very frustrated that the party was going in the wrong direction.
01:00I thought we were talking right and governing left.
01:03What I thought would happen is I will stand for leader so I can give a speech, talk about what's wrong,
01:07and then one of the other camps will grab me as soon as I go out.
01:10I didn't go out.
01:12I kept staying on and on in different rounds.
01:15I didn't get grabbed in the end to be part of someone's team.
01:18But I got the message out and I thought, well, if I can come forth and beat former chancellors, former home secretaries,
01:24I could probably win this contest, but I need to make sure that I'm doing it from first principles.
01:29And given everything that's happened over the last five years, I think we all know that it is time for renewal.
01:35A lot of people are not used to a politician who says it like it is.
01:40And that is what we need to do now in this age where everybody has a short attention span.
01:46You need people who can cut through very quickly and communicate our values clearly.
01:52I think I can do that.
01:53But I also work very well with teams.
01:56I'm not a loner.
01:57There's a reason why my campaign is called Renewal 2030 and not Kemi for Leader.
02:02I think for too long we have relied on one person's personality.
02:05Oh, this person can win. Let's go with the winner.
02:08And we've forgotten about everybody else.
02:10We are a party with a great tradition.
02:13Labour has the unions.
02:15They have BBC.
02:17They have charities.
02:25All we have is each other.
02:27So the campaign is called Renewal.
02:29That is the mission.
02:31And all of the people who worked with me, all the ministers who worked in the departments that I ran are supporting me.
02:36I get on well.
02:37I can build a great team.
02:38I start from first principles.
02:40I can cut through.