IT IS vital that Kemi Badenoch unveils a bold vision at her make-or-break party conference this week.
The Conservative leader is struggling to cut through to voters and convince her own party she is not leading it into oblivion.
Kemi Badenoch must draw a clear dividing line between the Tories and her political opponentsSimon Jones
So her bid to outflank both Labour and Reform with the Tories’ toughest ever migration crackdown will be music to the ears of her supporters.
Ms Badenoch has already confirmed she will pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights if she wins the next election.
But her pledge to remove up to 150,000 illegal migrants a year and to deport all new illegal arrivals within a week could prove a game-changer.
She will, of course, need to show she has the political will to push through policies that echo US President Donald Trump’s highly contentious border clampdown.
And she may be lagging too far behind Reform in the polls to steal a march on Nigel Farage.
But Ms Badenoch must draw a clear dividing line not only between the Tories and her political opponents — but also with her own party’s past failures.
She needs to make real progress in rebuilding the Conservatives as a serious political force.
Otherwise her first party conference as leader could be her last.
The stakes could hardly be higher.
Callous protests
THE pro-Palestinian protests that took place in Manchester and London yesterday should never have gone ahead.
They were an insult to the memory of those who died in the appalling Manchester synagogue terrorist attack.
And it will only have inflamed the fears of Britain’s Jewish community.
The way organisers callously brushed aside pleas to postpone the protest has exposed the impotence of police and politicians.
Of course we must never abolish the right of people to demonstrate peacefully.
But we welcome proposals in a 2024 review by Downing Street’s former adviser on political violence Lord Walney that would hand ministers more powers to ban such marches.
The peer is separately attempting to introduce a new law to ban groups like Irish rappers Kneecap getting public cash if they pose a threat to British values.
As he says, extremism will continue to “infect our communities” unless tougher action is taken.
Both his proposals should be adopted without delay.
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