Kemi Badenoch’s missing decade

“I think sometimes politicians do those things in a contrived way, and that they’re not actually being authentic, you know,” she continued. “Which is why Andy Burnham said ‘chips and gravy’ when he was asked about biscuits – because he wasn’t really answering the question.”

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Having dealt firmly with the biscuits issue, Badenoch moved onto British political history. At this point things began to crumble. Discussion turned to “the 1990s”, which Badenoch went on to describe as at time “where there was quite a lot of stability and there wasn’t that much news about.”

It was remarkable to hear this from a Conservative leader, especially as the collapse of the Soviet Union has always been touted as a great victory for transatlantic conservatism. That, along with the fall of the Berlin Wall were, it might be suggested, “news” that was “about” at the time. 

That and Black Wednesday, of course, the colossal 1992 currency crisis. And also the outbreak of war in the Balkans, the first major European land conflict since the end of the Second World War.

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But Badenoch seemed happy to step past all of this. Or perhaps it had all slipped her mind. Or perhaps in her mind “the 1990s” simply means “Blair”, whose political successes were surely the product of nice political weather. 

Whatever the reason, the airy dismissal of one of the most consequential periods of twentieth century history will raise a few eyebrows among fellow conservatives who regard it as the definitive moment of the left’s global defeat. It’s back to the history books for Kemi!