At the bar of Manchester’s Midland Hotel the night before Conservative party conference , the chatter of party activists sipping £16 glasses of wine was whether Kemi Badenoch would make it through the ordeal.

“This is a crucial few days,” one plugged-in insider declared. “Not for the party – but for her.” Robert Jenrick was seen to be waiting in the wings , with the possibility of an Andy Burnham-style leadership push on the cards.

With Nigel Farage ahead in the polls, and the Tories down in third, muttering had already begun that maybe the party needed a better leader.

Badenoch survived. “It’s been surprisingly good,” a shadow Cabinet minister told The i Paper towards the end of conference. “I thought there would be more bloodletting!” New Feature

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