Kemi Badenoch has been blamed by senior Tories for “missing the chance” for the party to “make a mark” in its response to the budget because the leadership frontrunner had been unwilling to move the dates of the contest.
Sources close to Badenoch had said there was no prospect of changing the timetable when the matter was raised by other candidates earlier in the autumn, with most of her rivals said to be backing the change to allow them to respond to Rachel Reeves’ first budget.
The leadership result will be declared on the Saturday after the budget and Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister and current party leader, will have to respond to the economic policies laid out by the chancellor.
One former minister said: “This is our one chance to make a mark on what will be an extremely difficult day for the Labour party and we are squandering it.” Another said it made the party look “totally impotent”.
Badenoch has said publicly that she believed it was preferable for Sunak and Jeremy Hunt to lead the budget response given their Treasury experience. Sources at Tory headquarters said there were also other factors at play in leaving the original date in place and that the 1922 Committee of backbenchers had been the deciders.
A senior source on one of the rival campaigns said Badenoch was against moving the timetable when it was discussed earlier in the autumn. “They can’t deny this is what they wanted,” they said.
A Tory source on a different campaign said she had been the “block” on shortening the contest as she “didn’t think it was fair” for a new leader to have to do such a high-profile parliamentary event just days after taking over.
A source on Badenoch’s campaign said she had played no part in deciding the timetable and declared her candidacy days after the dates had been set – and that over the summer there had been no prospect of changing the date.
“The party set the date and changing the date would not just have been chaotic, it would also have shortened the members’ stage,” the source said.
Another source at CCHQ said Badenoch was not the only block on moving the date, and that other factors had been at play.
Nevertheless, her stance has raised concerns among Tories over her willingness to engage on the economy. One senior MP even questioned whether she had the necessary level of economic experience, despite having been business secretary.
Badenoch herself said during the Conservative party conference last month that the length of the contest did not need to be changed.
When asked about the timetable, she said that she was comfortable with the date and thought it was preferable for Sunak and Hunt to be the ones to respond. “We have a prime minister who’s never been in the Treasury,” Badenoch said during an interview.
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“We have a leader of the opposition who used to be chancellor. We have a shadow chancellor who knows that building [the Treasury] inside out. We can do this. It’s not about who’s becoming leader a few days later. It is about us using all of the talents within our party.”
Another party source said they believed the date of the leadership election was more of a “cock-up” which had been reached by trying to find a compromise with a number of party grandees who had wanted the contest to continue for many months longer.
They said that November had been suggested as a compromise – without seemingly realising what it would mean for the budget and the US election result – but when pressure came from candidates to change the date party officials thought it would be too chaotic.
Jenrick has repeatedly argued for the race to be cut short because of a lack of effective opposition to Labour. There is a fear in Tory circles that the result of their own leadership campaign would be a distraction from any difficulty the government is feeling over the budget – and the week after will be dominated by the US election.
“I want to be the leader of the opposition who is stood up in the House of Commons giving the response to Rachel Reeves at the end of the month,” Jenrick said in a speech earlier this month. “That is what we need now. The country needs this failing Labour government to be held to account robustly.”
Tom Tugendhat, the former security minister, and James Cleverly, the former home secretary, who were knocked out of the race in earlier rounds, said at the Tory party conference that they backed a shorter contest, meaning the new leader could respond to the budget as their first significant parliamentary outing.