'What's the point?' Apathy seen as Tories' biggest threat

Few people doubt that Kemi Badenoch faces what could be a make-or-break Conservative party conference this weekend.

- Peter Walker Senior political correspondent

However, some members are less worried about regicide than another, more prosaic issue: apathy.

“For every conference, I’ve gone for three or four days. This time it’s a day trip,” one senior party activist said. “Quite frankly, I’m thinking, what’s the point in going for any longer? I know of lots of other people doing the same thing.”

This is not to say Badenoch will have an easy time in Manchester. Many of her MPs privately agree the clock is ticking on her tenure in the job. This is literally true in the case of an X account reputedly set up by a disgruntled backbencher that offers a daily countdown to the anniversary of her leadership victory, after which she can face a challenge under party rules.

But there is something of a consensus that nothing is likely to happen yet, and probably not before next May’s local elections - mainly because few people think it will make much of a difference.

“Most people sense that our problems are structural,” one MP said. “We’ve messed about with our leaders so much before and people hate it. For every voter I speak to who thinks we are too centrist, or who thinks we are mad Truss-ites, there are 10 who just see us as rats in a sack.”