Kemi Badenoch answered questions from the CBI, having just finished a speech calling for the Employment Rights Bill to be scrapped.

The Tory leader is first asked by Rupert Soames, the chair of the CBI, if she feels she is “getting better” at being the leader of the opposition.

Badenoch responds: “Well, like any job, like any job that you’re doing for the first time? Yes. Of course you do. 

“You know, I didn’t know anyone who was at their best on their first day. And in fact, you should be worried at anybody who’s at their best on their first day. 

“I mean, just even understanding what we were dealing with, what the landscape was going to be. But it’s getting clearer and clearer the direction the country is going.”

‘We haven’t seen any growth’

She points to last year’s budget and how “there was a lot of talk about growth”. 

Badenoch adds: “We haven’t seen any growth. There are all sorts of measures around planning. Those things aren’t happening. Nothing’s happening. We are in stasis. People are leaving the country.”

She concludes her answer: “It’s becoming clear what we need to do. 

“We need to be the party of growth, the party of business. And we need people to hear our message. We also need to acknowledge that we made mistakes in government.

“I’m now in charge, and I started junking all of the silly things which happened. And I’ve got lots more good stuff that will be coming in due course.”