n a dreary Saturday in the pristine Oxfordshire town of Henley-on-Thames, nearly 40 miles away from the standing ovations and gleeful commiserations of Kemi Badenoch’s leadership victory, news was beginning to trickle through of the new shape of the Conservative party.
Just three months ago, the Tories were defeated here by the Liberal Democrats – until then, Henley had voted Conservative in every election since 1906.
But peel back that thin yellow film and a deep blue concrete slab remains. This is a boat-rowing Tory heartland dressed in bunting, a wealthy area with a long history of conservatism (the constituency is a former seat of Boris Johnson and Michael Heseltine). People here are the voters Badenoch will surely have in her sights as the Tories seek a return to power.
But do the people of Henley-on-Thames think Badenoch can win back their vote?
“I think she will,” said 71-year-old Andrew Collins, chair of the Henley and Thame Conservative Association. “To be in the position where we’ve elected the first black woman of any major political party in the west as our leader is incredibly positive for the party and the country as a whole.”
As a party member, Collins voted for Robert Jenrick as leader, but admired Badenoch’s social conservatism. “I particularly like her stance on overly woke issues,” he said. “I think being a black woman will make it much much harder for anyone to criticise her views.”
Deputy chair of the Henley Conservatives, Tracy Scott, also voted for Jenrick, supportive of his desire to pull out of the European convention on human rights, but ultimately felt Badenoch was a worthy winner. “She’s a star,” Scott said.
Henley had been one of the safest Tory seats in the country until July, but the Lib Dems overturned the Conservatives’ 14,000 vote majority. The concern for some remaining Tory voters is that the party could lean further to the right under Badenoch.
“That’s the only worry,” said John Clark, 59, who runs an electrical engineering company that employs 200 people. “You never win anything by being [too far] one way or the other. We don’t want to lurch to the right. We just need some middle-of-the -road politics which are sensible for everybody, rather than this rhetoric of rightwing extremism.”
When asked if he would still vote Conservative in a general election, Clark didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely. You could put Coco the clown up there and I would vote for them.”
“I don’t think they’ve lurched enough,” said Rod, 75, explaining that he expects Henley-on-Thames to revert to the Conservative party in due course. “It’s still rich and influential, and that’s what the Tory party is about.”
Roger Field, 79, who has always voted Conservative, had hoped the party would play old hits. “I’m a committed Tory, but I’m disappointed with them all really,” he said. “Bring back Boris.”
He expected the town to pivot back to the Conservatives, whoever the leader was. “The Liberal Democrats don’t know what they are. All I know is that I’m not going to grow a beard and I’m not going to wear sandals.”
Jane, 70, was unimpressed with the rightward direction the party seemed to be heading in, but relieved with the result regardless. “Neither [Badenoch or Jenrick] would have been my choice. Jenrick is a dreadful man with dreadful views. Out of the two of them, I’m very glad that Jenrick hasn’t won.”
For some, the party has lost their vote and won’t be winning it back any time soon. In Dave Potter’s antique shop hangs a sign that reads: “Vote for Guy Fawkes: the only person to enter parliament with honest intentions”. It’s a message Potter swears by.
“I’ve got no faith in anybody,” said the 73-year-old. “No faith in the Labour party or the Tories. That sign there, that’s what I honestly believe. I’ve got no faith in mainstream parties. They’re all liars and cheats, the whole lot of them.”
Potter used to vote Conservative but now backs Nigel Farage and the Reform party. Asked if a hard-right Tory party would persuade him to change his mind at the next election, he shook his head. “I won’t, but the town probably will.”
