Badenoch vows to lead the Tories out of the ‘wilderness’ – just as Ronald Reagan did for the Republicans

Kemi Badenoch vowed to lead the Tories out of the ‘wilderness’ – just as Ronald Reagan did for the Republicans.

The Opposition leader admitted her party faced a ‘hell of a job’, but insisted it should not be written off.

Mrs Badenoch told the Welsh Conservative conference that politics across the world was becoming ever more volatile, with Right-wing parties and their leaders in Canada and Australia both unexpectedly losing elections in recent weeks.

She said the ‘politics of identity’ was becoming more important to voters than the economy, with the likes of Reform UK and Plaid Cymru benefiting rather than the Tories.

But she said her party was based on principles rather than telling people ‘what they think they want to hear’.

‘The path back will take time. There will be setbacks. But I am here to remind you that conservatism is worth fighting for,’ she told delegates.

‘People want to write us off. They want to say that we’re out of the game because they forget that we are a party based on values. What we stand for must never, ever be lost. We stand for patriotism, for hard work, for responsibility, for freedom. That is worth fighting for.’

Mrs Badenoch said the ‘politics of identity’ was becoming more important to voters than the economy, with the likes of Reform UK and Plaid Cymru benefiting rather than the Tories

She finished her speech ‘with the words of Ronald Reagan, who knew what it was like to lead a party out of the wilderness’

She finished her speech ‘with the words of Ronald Reagan, who knew what it was like to lead a party out of the wilderness’.

She quoted a line from his speech to the Republican National Convention in 1976: ‘We may be fewer in number than we’ve ever been, but we are the ones who carry the message that they are waiting for, and there is no substitute for victory.’

Mr Reagan went on to win the presidency in a landslide in 1980.