KEMI Badenoch will not reveal any major policies for at least two years as she orders the Conservatives to be ready to fight an election by 2028.
The Tory leader unveiled her “three-year plan” to turn the routed party around at a Shadow Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that leans heavily on Sir Keir Starmer’s own path to power.
2025 will be focused on “rebuilding trust” with voters with apologies for what the Conservatives got wrong in Government.
Ms Badenoch has already said sorry for the party’s painful failings on migration, with other such grovels said to be in the pipeline.
Next year will focus on “establishing credibility” with efforts to contrast her team with Nigel Farage as an alternative government throughout 2026.
Then the remaining years of the parliament will finally see “plans for Government” unveiled and policies set out – but not before the very end of 2027 at the earliest.
The Leader of the Opposition also urged her frontbench to embark on a major outreach programme with Donald Trump’s Republicans and right-wing parties in Australia and Canada for tips on turning around party fortunes as quickly as possible.
One Shadow Cabinet source described the plan as “high on aims but low on detail”, while another praised it for its “ambition”.
Other senior Tories pointed to lessons learnt from how Sir Keir Starmer and his right-hand man Morgan McSweeney dragged Labour from an historic defeat in 2019 to No10 by 2024.
A source said: “Starmer showed it can be done in a matter of years, and there is no reason we cannot do the same.”
At a presentation on Tuesday morning, Badenoch and her chief of staff Lee Rowley set the three year roadmap focusing on five key priorities designed to detoxify the party after 14 mixed years in power.
Although the PM does not have to call an election until summer 2029, senior Tories believe the PM could go to the country as early as late 2027.
One senior Tory said: “Given that the government has already hit a record low in popularity, we need to be ready to go a lot sooner than most people think.”
