Kemi’s Paradox: Strength, Strategy, and Self-Sabotage

From the very first day she emerged as Tory leader, I remarked that she was perhaps the most formidable figure the party has produced since Margaret Thatcher. She is inherently intelligent, strong-minded, and full of energy. Her ability to marshal convincing arguments could have been enough to put the Conservatives back on the road to victory, if not for the uncomfortable reality that her race remains an unspoken barrier in British politics. In truth, I always believed she was positioned more as a caretaker than a true long-term leader of the party.

Unfortunately, Kemi has not strengthened her own case. By directing sharp and often vitriolic criticisms toward Nigeria, her ancestral homeland, she has risked alienating a segment of the electorate that might otherwise have been sympathetic to her story. Politics, after all, is not only about ideology and strategy but also about the delicate art of building bridges, preserving identity, and uniting diverse communities.