“The last time I checked, Northern Ireland did vote to leave,” she declared with confidence of the 2016 EU referendum. In reality, of course, Northern Ireland voted to remain by 56-44, a margin greater than the Leave vote in either England or Wales (Badenoch eventually conceded that “a lot of people” in Northern Ireland voted to remain). Here’s a more plausible explanation: Badenoch believes that Northern Ireland should, by its essence, have voted to leave the EU. The people of Northern Ireland, who were anxious about the hard borders that Brexit would necessitate, were an afterthought. Far from being the electoral elixir that the Conservative leader might imagine, it threatens to further depress Tory support.