Badenoch's campaign launch has a very weird melancholic air of nostalgia to it. It has the whiff of decay and the sense of a Party aghast at being left behind by capital.
Namecheck for previous icons long gone and consigned to a historic memory even on their own side...
An attempt to foreground national sovereignty: from a party that believes capital should have no borders or constraints....
A defence of national interests when these must and will be subjugated to the needs of the market....
Referring to identity politics as 'nasty': from a party that enthusiastically joined the culture war to 'defend' an imagine past....
A call for pro capitalist politics when even capitalists blanche at being described as capitalists and prefer to be seen as socially, ethically, environmentally responsible individuals and organisations fully committed to brave DEI initiatives ....
Badenoch is clearly the candidate of the existential tension on the right between politics/values and the demands of the free market....more a cry of sadness than a political programme:
Shadow housing secretary says party must unite around a clear set of values and policies, as she faces Priti Patel and James Cleverly in the leadership race
www.thetimes.com
conservativehome.com
Name Thatcher as an inspiration 
