Why Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has the same star quality as Ruth Davidson – John McLellan

Was I impressed? I sure was, although as a former Conservative councillor readers would expect me to say that, but no one can argue with her warning to the party conference in Birmingham that voters were looking in the Tory shop window but not buying, and a lot of work will be needed to turn her personal charisma into success at the ballot box.

No surprise then that a stunning election success took centre stage, with new Aberdeen South MP Douglas Lumsden given the prime, but difficult, job of introducing the leader, the first Scot to do so since Ruth Davidson did the honours for David Cameron at the 2013 conference, 11 months before the independence referendum.

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Tory brand not as tarnished as some think

I was the party’s Scottish communications director back then, and we had to work hard to make sure the PM’s speech contained Scottish content, but even with a referendum looming it amounted to little more than a paragraph.

But this time Scottish content was prominent because Douglas Lumsden winning over 50 per cent of the vote spoke to the wider policy goals of bringing down energy bills, protecting jobs and breaking with the rush to net-zero carbon emissions.

He did so in spite of the rise of Reform, so the victory had a far wider significance. With the right policies, right candidate in the right place, even in Scotland, the Conservative brand is not as tarnished as its opponents would like to claim.

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Apart from some good old-time Tory religion of low-tax, aspirational, common-sense Conservatism, Ms Badenoch presented an honest assessment of where things have gone wrong but, crucially, without trashing the brand in the way Theresa May did with her “nasty party” routine in 2002 when she was party chair and the leader was Michael Howard.

It’s instructive to look back at that speech, 16 months on from the 2001 election defeat, in which she attacked un-named colleagues who “behaved disgracefully and then compounded their offences by trying to evade responsibility. We all know who they are. Let's face it, some of them have stood on this platform," she said.

She went on to attack others for “petty feuding” and not supporting the leader “who is doing an enormous amount to change a party”. But most tellingly, she also accused others of trying to gain political advantage by “demonising minorities”.

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Reform UK an effective disinfectant

With a black leader succeeding a Hindu Prime Minister it’s difficult to lay that charge now, but the prominent feuders and plotters have gone to Reform, and the process of weeding out the disloyal, dangerous and dead wood is in full swing. Ms Badenoch is not just talking about change, she is acting on it too, and Reform is proving to be an effective disinfectant.

She received a rapturous reception in the Birmingham Symphony Hall, and a standing ovation for her disdainful rejection of any notion of an electoral pact with Reform, but the polls show her positive personal ratings have yet to translate into a significant rise in party support.

Maybe that will change after last Wednesday but, in the aftermath of the disastrous 2024 election result, being within touching distance of Labour and Reform is still an achievement.

Despite Aberdeen South, the challenge in Scotland is even greater, with only the Lib Dems having fewer MSPs, and it was illustrated on Wednesday night when no Conservative was included in BBC Scotland’s Debate Night panel to comment on the leader’s speech, with right-of-centre opinion represented by party-hopping opportunist Thomas Kerr MSP, currently with Reform.

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Backfiring stunts

There is frustration in Scottish Conservative circles that while hard work is being done on policy development and holding the SNP properly to account on serious issues like education attainment and drug deaths, Reform is grabbing attention with stunts like the recent walk-out from the independence debate.

Reform’s call for new drugs policy minister Maree Todd to resign, when she wasn’t in post when the deaths were recorded, was criticised as viciously personal, and this week’s Reform-led debate on banning balaclavas and burkas might just reinforce impressions that it remains a race-driven, single-issue, pressure group.

Stunts are a two-edged sword. Yes, they get noticed, but will backfire if what gets noticed is unattractive. As they say in the advertising world, nothing wrecks a bad product better than good marketing.

Holyrood’s lack of star quality

On the other hand, detailed policy work is a very hard way to climb from fifth place when, although election winner John Swinney is hardly Mr Charisma, time and time again the record shows that what makes the difference is personality and an eye for the main chance.

Although it wasn’t difficult to point to contradictory evidence, the charge levelled most often at Ms Davidson was she was all personality and no real policies, yet people warmed to her and voted Conservative as a result.

Ms Badenoch is made of the same stuff and, on Wednesday, there was every sign she is capable of pulling it off. It would be unkind to say that no one in the current Scottish Conservative ranks has that magic X-factor, but it’s a very rare quality and it’s hard to think of any of the current 129 MSPs who have anything close to the magnetism of a Badenoch or Burnham.

However, unlike Boris Johnson, in Ms Badenoch there is a UK Conservative leader who no one doubts can be a positive asset north of the Border, with five visits to Aberdeen for the by-election. Maybe she should write a regular column for the Strathspey & Badenoch Herald.