Kemi Badenoch has claimed to have achieved an end to infighting within the Tory Party, contrasting her leadership to Nigel Farage ‘losing 20% of his MPs’ since the general election. Being grilled on the Today Programme, the Conservative leader insisted she is working through the plan she was elected on last year, and will not be blown off course by voices demanding she set out detailed policies at this stage.

Ms Badenoch was asked what she’s achieved since taking over as leader of the party, and pointed to the contrast between Tory infighting this time last year. Amol Rajan raised incidents of disquiet on the Tory benches, citing criticism on the Conservative Home blog and leaks to the papers that Ms Badenoch is creating a policy vacuum. Ms Badenoch furiously hit back: “Amol, that happens to every single leader of every single party, even when they are successful.”

“It happened to David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, that is politics.

“Being in politics is to be criticised. Every single day the job of a politician is to make difficult decisions and some people will be upset about that. That is not the measure of whether we are doing a good job or not.”

“This time last year you were seeing endless commentary about cabinet ministers being divided - that has stopped now. It is not easy.

“You were talking about Reform, [Farage] has already lost 20% of his party!

“It is difficult doing politics - especially in these polarised and divided times, and one of the things I’m doing is making sure that we are showing the new direction in which the party’s going.

“That takes time. The local elections are going to be very difficult but what we want the public to know is we’re doing this for the right reason. Rebuilding trust with them is not just about winning elections, it’s about making sure you can deliver for people.”

Ms Badenoch said voters should back the Tories at the local elections rather than Reform UK, because the party has a track record of delivering in local government.

“If [voters] look at the offer they will see we are the credible alternative with experience… we still have 120 MPs, Nigel Farage has four. [Reform] has never run any council.”

She argued the local election should not be a protest vote about national politics, but about real-world issues like potholes and bin collections.

The Tory leader claimed: “People will be voting on who’s taking the rubbish out - look at what’s happening in Birmingham where there’s rubbish piled up in the streets and rats running around everywhere.”

“That’s what happens, in my view, when you vote Labour. Conservative councils across the board deliver better services and lower taxes.”

However she conceded that May 1’s poll will be difficult for her party.

The current swathe of seats up for grabs were last voted on in 2021, when Boris Johnson was at the height of his popularity and swept the board.

She confessed: “These elections next week are going to be very difficult for the Conservatives because the last time we fought them we were on a high, we were winning seats of Labour like Hartlepool.”

“2/3rds of the seats four years ago we won. There’s no way we’ll be able to do that again.”