Tory Party leader Kemi Badenoch makes a speech on Friday in Scotland (Alamy)
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The Conservative Party co-chairman has asked donors to put money into boosting Kemi Badenoch’s social media presence.
Lord Dominic Johnson called for more money to be invested in raising Badenoch’s profile at the Tories’ summer party in London on Thursday night, PoliticsHome understands.
The Tory co-chairman referenced Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick’s recent viral posts on X, like the footage of him confronting people who were jumping barriers on the London Underground, as an example of digital communications that the party should aspire to.
“The age of literacy has given way to the age of oracy, and how you communicate is focused around social media,” he told attendees, who included shadow cabinet ministers, MPs, peers and councillors.
Johnson, who co-chairs the Tories alongside MP Nigel Huddleston, has raised money for the party for 16 years and under six different leaders. Writing for Conservative Home this week, he said that the party’s current finances are in “good shape” and in a “far better place than most credit us”, following claims that they are in poor health following last year’s heavy general election defeat.
Figures published this week showed that the Conservatives raised £3.3m in the first quarter of 2025, an increase on £2m from the end of 2024.
Johnson’s message comes as the Leader of the Opposition faces pressure to improve her party’s performance in the polls and dispel the argument that the next general election will be a contest for power between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Reform UK’s Nigel Farage.
Farage and other Reform MPs have particularly high engagement on social media websites X and TikTok.
According to an attendee, Badenoch told the Tory summer party: “We lost because we didn’t follow our principles. Labour is losing because they are following theirs.”
The reception, which, according to Conservative Party sources, was their largest internal event since the coronavirus pandemic, was held at the Science Museum. Tory insiders also said that it raised more money than any single evening event since 2019.
