What would a Badenoch spending review look like?

It would be an exaggeration to claim the nation eagerly awaits the invention of Badenomics” but Conservatives are certainly impatient with Kemi Badenoch’s apparent inability to create a narrative on the economy, land blows on a weakened Labour government, or compete with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK ona key electoral issue.

- SEAN O'GRADY

This week’s Labour announcements on winter fuel payments and the spending review offer some prime opportunities to “punch through”.

What is the problem?

It’s hardly confined to today’s Conservatives; every political party that has been in power and badly loses an election finds it difficult to get a hearing. Policies the party are most closely identified with are the ones recently and decisively rejected by voters.

How far should a heavily defeated team try to claim that they were right all along and that the electorate made the wrong decision? This might be termed the “blame the voters” approach; while some buyer’s remorse may have set in, it’s rather futile to attack the electorate. Alternatively, a party can admit mistakes as a means of resetting voter appeal, but that means upsetting former colleagues and handing your enemies an easy win.

What are the Conservatives doing about it?