Kieran Mullan MP: Why I’m backing Badenoch

I know most people have too many other things going on in their day-to-day lives to be paying much attention to the Conservative Party Leadership contest. But this person could be the next Prime Minister! So, I thought it would be good to keep you up to date with my choice.

There is no doubt that the last election was a bruising one for the Conservative Party. Whilst I know from knocking on doors that there was no enthusiasm for Labour, too many people just didn’t feel like they could vote for us. It was always going to be tough after 14 years in charge and with challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic and impact of the war in Ukraine. However, we cannot pretend that it was purely because of events that were out of our control. I believe that we lost our way in certain areas – people voted in 2019 for change which we didn’t deliver quickly enough or, in some cases, at all.

We need to choose a leader who can win back the support of voters up and down the country, from all different backgrounds. We need to choose a leader who can make people feel positive about voting Conservative again and can ensure that people know who we are and what we stand for.

I’m backing Kemi Badenoch because she understands that the way we do politics has got to change. We must stop pretending there are simple solutions to difficult problems. We must stop offering only platitudes and telling people just what they want to hear. Kemi is someone who believes that more government cannot be the answer to everything, which is a core Conservative value to me. Furthermore, Kemi knows that the common ground is where Conservatives need to be, and that what social media and commentators describe as right wing is just common sense. If we as a Party can get back to that, the British people will vote for it.

Kemi isn’t afraid to say the difficult things, but she loves this country and knows what an amazing place it is. I think she is best placed to fight this pessimistic view of the UK given to us by Keir Starmer and I know she will put forward a positive vision for our future that is centred around families and communities – a vision where our responsibilities to each other are just as important as our rights.