“It is time to get down to business,” Kemi Badenoch declared after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party half a year ago.

Yet far from delivering “renewal” after the worst electoral defeat in the party’s history, the Tories have now sunk to fourth place in the polls.

A triumphant Nigel Farage pronounced his rivals on the Right “finished” after inflicting a devastating blow in the local elections – in which Reform UK captured a slew of Conservative strongholds.

Deep dissatisfaction with Mrs Badenoch’s captaincy is brewing: the bookies now pinpoint the probability of her leading the party into the next general election at less than 13 per cent.