Kemi has cleared the decks but now she must turn the tide for Tories

THE PALL of tragedy hangs over Manchester following the synagogue slaughter by an Islamic terrorist in which two Jewish people died.

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It is a horror that the city, already scarred by senseless acts of terrorism in the past, will never forget.

As it reels from yet more savagery, the capital of the north finds itself in the unwanted position of being the focal point of a rising tide of antisemitism in the UK.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who is under intense pressure to do much more to protect the Jewish community, has already visited the scene of the attack.

And Kemi Badenoch will pay her own respects today on her way to the Conservative Party Conference, which kicks off in Manchester tomorrow.

The event is likely to be overshadowed by Thursday's sickening attack.

But it comes at a time when patriotism in Britain is on the rise and the debate over religion, racism and free speech is white hot.

Wreckage

Mrs Badenoch will not shy away from one of the biggest and most toxic challenges of our time when she arrives in the historic industrial powerhouse. What she may well be facing is D-Day.

The Conservative leader is hoping to use her party’s annual conference as the launchpad for one of the great political fightbacks.

Will it be the moment where she drags the Tories from the wreckage of two brutal elections and masterminds a major comeback? Or will she be torpedoed by another defection to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK?

Most people are expecting Mr Farage to detonate the D-bomb with names like Jacob Rees Mogg, Lord David Frost and Miriam Cates doing the Westminster gossip rounds.

The thousands of activists, lobbyists and journalists arriving in Manchester over the weekend will soon know the answer. It is Mrs Badenoch’s first conference as party leader and she needs to make a big impression.

Since she won the race to replace Rishi Sunak almost 12 months ago, the Conservatives have slumped further behind in the polls.