Kemi Badenoch has a reputation for pugnacity, which is why many Tories think she should succeed Rishi Sunak as the party’s leader. But when addressing Angela Rayner, Labour’s new deputy prime minister, in the House of Commons on July 19th Ms Badenoch sounded jaded. Ms Rayner’s hope of pepping up housing construction was doomed, she said. There would be a deluge of angry emails; Labour’s new MPs would revolt.