Badenoch insists Tories are still the main opposition to Labour
Thursday's vote in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse saw the Tories win just 6% of the vote while Reform surged into third place with 26% a month after routing Mrs Badenoch's party in local elections across England.
Reform's rise in the polls has led Sir Keir Starmer to regard Nigel Farage's party as Labour's main opposition in the current Parliament, despite having only five MPs.
Answering questions after a speech on Friday, Mrs Badenoch dismissed Reform as a 'protest party' and said claims it was the real opposition were 'nonsense'.
Describing Reform as 'another left-wing party', she said: 'What they're trying to do is talk this situation into existence.
'Labour is going to be facing the Conservative Party at the next election and we're going to get them out.'
The Conservatives' electoral struggles come as the party continues to languish in third place in most polls while Mrs Badenoch's personal ratings show widespread dissatisfaction with her performance.
Meanwhile, senior Tory and former leadership candidate Sir James Cleverly appeared this week to split from Mrs Badenoch on her claim that achieving net zero by 2050 was 'impossible'.
Speaking on Friday, she maintained that she would be able to turn things around, saying: 'I've always said that things would be tough, in fact in some cases would likely get worse before they get better.
'There is a lot that needs doing, but I am of very, very strong confidence that the public will see that the party has changed and that we are the only credible alternative to Labour.'
WATCH LIVE: The system is rigged. It's time to rewrite the rules of the game 👇 https://t.co/ycfDSpOPdU
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) June 6, 2025
Her remarks followed a speech at the Royal United Services Institute in Westminster in which Mrs Badenoch launched a commission tasked with examining how leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) would work.
While she stopped short of formally committing to leaving the convention, she said it was 'likely' that Britain would 'need to leave'.
She said: 'I won't commit my party to leaving the ECHR or other treaties without a clear plan to do so and without a full understanding of all the consequences.'
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'We cannot leave the security of our country by the side because we're trying to save a few pennies' If you want evidence that Kemi Badenoch is up for the fight against her critics, then look no further than the venue she chose for her speech on Friday. The Tory leader was flanked by no fewer than six Union flags as she took to the podium at the Royal United Services Institute, a prestigious defence think tank founded by the Duke of Wellington. During a 21-minute address, she railed against the ECHR and its Labour defenders, warning 'Britain is being mugged' by activist lawyers and judges. The speech followed a bruising six weeks for the Tories, culminating in Thursday night's rout at the Hamilton by-election, which has left some internal critics asking whether it is time for Mrs Badenoch to meet her Waterloo. But as we meet across a large table, on which the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet was signed at the end of World War One, there is no sign that she is preparing to wave the white flag. Instead, the Tory leader channels the Iron Duke's uncompromising stance as she uses our interview to lay down the law to the liberal wing of her party. 'If we make that decision that we have to leave the ECHR, then that will be a condition of standing for Parliament under the Tory banner,' she insists. 'I'm afraid anybody who disagrees with that policy cannot and should not stand for Parliament as a Conservative MP.' 'We've tried reform and we end up messing around' It is a bold proclamation from Mrs Badenoch on an issue which has split her party for years and frequently prompted apocalyptic warnings that leaving could cause a permanent schism. Like all other recent Tory leaders, she has been pulled between its Left wing, for which adherence to international law is an article of faith, and the Right, which is pressuring her to match Reform UK, which has already pledged to quit the ECHR. She has now firmly nailed her colours to the mast, announcing on Friday that she now sees no other way to regain control of migration and restore law and order than to quit the convention. What is her message to the moderates, who want to see Britain work with other countries to secure changes to the 75-year-old treaty? 'We've tried reform and we end up messing around,' she says. 'Reform also takes years, and this problem is getting worse every single day. On Saturday, we saw 1,200 people come over. 'All of that is costing the British taxpayer money. There are people out there worried about the cost of living crisis. They're deciding to choose between heating and eating, and then they've got to pay for somebody else to stay in a B&B. That's not right.' Conservative HQ will hope such muscular rhetoric can help the party stem the flow of support to poll-topping Reform, a subject which dominated the media Q&A session that followed Mrs Badenoch's speech. She admits that she must do better to win back millions of centre-Right voters who have been attracted by its offer, but also urges critics within her party to hold their nerve with an election still almost four years away. We are meeting less than 48 hours after Nigel Farage suffered a major blow with the shock resignation of Zia Yusuf, the Reform chairman who rejoined the party on Saturday night. His initial departure left fresh questions about Mr Farage's ability to keep the upstart outfit united and focused on victory. 'What we're seeing is what we've always seen with Nigel Farage,' the Tory leader said. 'He's left a wake of broken parties and very disgruntled people behind. 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