The Tory leader said the cabinet minister “has acted like a Gestapo officer” by ending a tax break for private schools, which has led to some being forced to close due to falling pupil numbers.
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She said: “I compared her to a Gestapo officer, acting like a Gestapo officer, with the way she was closing down those schools which didn’t appeal to her own ideology.”
Responding on X, Phillipson said: “The Gestapo marched hundreds of thousands of innocent people to their deaths. I’ve ended private schools’ tax breaks to invest in state schools.
“No responsible leader makes vile comparisons like this. Kemi Badenoch is not fit to be Prime Minister.”
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On BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show, shadow housing secretary Cleverly distanced himself from Badenoch’s choice of language.
Asked by presenter Victoria Derbyshire if he would have made that comparison, he said: “No I probably wouldn’t have done.”
Later in the interview, he said: “That wouldn’t have been the phraseology that I would use.”
Labour chair Anna Turley said: “Kemi’s top team won’t defend the indefensible because they know full well Kemi Badenoch’s comments were completely appalling and deeply inappropriate.
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“Time and again Badenoch sinks below the standards the public rightly expect from a Leader of His Majesty’s opposition. The simple fact is she’s not up to the job.”
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A Tory source said: “Labour MPs confronted Kemi, including Bridget Phillipson. Kemi replied: ‘I will never stop fighting you. You’re destroying children’s lives’.”
An ally of Phillipson told HuffPost UK: “Badenoch has once again disgraced herself.
“She and her putrid party can’t stand working class women who do well.
“If standing up for the 94% of kids in state schools makes Bridget a spiteful class warrior then she’ll wear it with pride.”
The Conservative leader stunned many within the Labour Party with her visceral attack on Keir Starmer and his most senior ministers in the Commons today.
“When we leave this chamber, don’t be surprised when constituents think they can use the same language against each other. Let us show a little bit more decorum and respect to each other.”
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Nadhim Zahawi has been condemned over his “disgraceful” attempts to defend a Reform UK ad attacking Kemi Badenoch which has been widely criticised as misleading.
The former Tory, who defected to Nigel Farage’s party earlier this year, insisted there was nothing wrong with the controversial social media post, which was produced following the jailing of Henry Nowak’s killed.
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The 18-year-old was handcuffed and arrested by police as he lay dying after being wrongly accused of racism by his killer, Vickram Digwa.
Digwa, a British-born Sikh, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years at Southampton Crown Court last Monday.
Farage has said the case is an example of “two-tier policing” and anti-white discrimination.
The Reform ad showed a quote from 2020 in which Badenoch said “black lives do matter”, alongside a partial quote she gave this week in which she said “I don’t care about white lives matter”.
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However, her full quote, which she gave in an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, was: “I don’t want to hear about Black Lives Matter. I don’t want to hear about White Lives Matter. Everyone matters.”
On Sky News on Sunday morning, presenter Trevor Phillips asked Zahawi if someone at Reform “is getting sacked” for the ad.
He replied: “In 2020, she said black lives do matter. In 2026, she says I don’t care about black lives matter or white lives matter. Why? Because she finds it hard to talk about a white boy who bled out on the street.”
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But Phillips told him that was “clearly a misrepresentation of what she said”.
“Are you telling me that this is ok,” he asked in reference to the advert.
Zahawi said: “It’s her words, that’s what she said. Why is it so different when it’s a white boy, that we’re all so frightened of upsetting anyone?”
The presenter hit back: “This is not you at all. You’re doing what all the others do. You are inventing your own question and answering it.
“You’re not answering the question I asked you, which is ’is this a fair representation of what Kemi Badenoch said ir not?”
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Zahawi said: “I would have more respect for Kemi Badenoch if she said ’by the way, in 2020 I was wrong.”
Social media users slammed the former Tory chancellor.
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This is the problem with the washed up former Tories who have defected to Reform (at all levels, but especially the former MPs) – they’re so desperate to please their new boss, they’ll say anything, do anything, weather any humiliation in search of acceptance. https://t.co/3oTrt3UFyV
— Chris Clarkson 🇬🇧🇺🇦🇮🇱🇨🇾 (@ToryMemo82) June 7, 2026
Given the amount of problems this country is facing (spiralling debt and no plan), it’s extraordinary that Reform are doubling down on this. Embarrassing for a party that needs to convince folk it’s a serious party of potential government. https://t.co/V7E5Oty0Id
This is just Zahawi being shameless, stubborn and completely tone deaf. And they are the very politest words I can come up with to describe that exchange. Totally unsurprising though.
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The Conservative leader caused a stir on Friday morning when she called for Britain to take stronger action against Iran after its strikes against RAF Akrotiri.
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Badenoch claimed that at the moment British jets are just “hanging around” the Middle East, even though the US “has been mobilising” in the region for months.
“Our guys, our government, were just sitting there shrugging their shoulders,” the leader of the opposition said.
But Presenter Charlie Stayt jumped in, pointing out: “The evidence we have from the British government and the British military is they have been involved in shooting down missiles and drones.”
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“You have characterised what is already happening by the British military, by the RAF, as ‘just hanging around’,” he added.
Badenoch hit back: “What I have said is they are catching arrows. They need to catch the archer.”
But cabinet minister John Healey slammed Badenoch, pointing out that he was on the ground in the UK’s base in Cyprus on Thursday.
He said: “I saw how our British forces are working round the clock, in the face of repeated air raid sirens, to protect British lives and British interests.
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“And to suggest they’re ‘just hanging around’ to score political points insults the men and women of our Armed Forces.
“She should apologise and withdraw her comments.”
Iran launched a drone strike on the UK’s RAF base in Cyprus on Sunday shortly after Keir Starmer gave his permission for US forces to launch limited and defensive attacks on Iran from two British military sites.
While sending more military personnel to the region to protect the British citizens in the area, the prime minister has made it very clear that the UK is still only acting in a defensive capacity.
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He has insisted Britain will not be joining the US and Israeli’s offensive strikes against Iran.
The former prime minister – who committed the UK to ending carbon emissions by 2050 when she was in No.10 – warned her successor that “there’s a cost to not doing something”.
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That was a clear dig at Badenoch’s criticism of Net Zero, which she said “tied us in red tape, loaded us with costs, and did nothing to cut global emissions”.
Badenoch announced the Conservatives were no longer committed to Net Zero in a major policy shift in October.
“We want to leave a cleaner environment for our children, but not by bankrupting the country,” she said.
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But appearing on Radio 4′s Today programme on Wednesday, May made clear her unhappiness at the move, suggesting that Badenoch was not thinking about the “longer term” impacts for the planet of her decision.
She said: “One of the challenges in government is always to remember that yes, you need to be concerned about the here and now, but you do also have to think about the longer term as well.
“Obviously when I was prime minister we put through the legislation to put Net Zero by 2050 into law, the first major country to do so, was to set that target so people would start to innovate. And we have seen huge innovations, and we still see innovations taking place.
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“You always hope that whatever you put into government is going to stay there forever, and people talk about the cost of doing something. There’s a cost to not doing something as well – we always have to remember that.”
A Conservative peer has offered up a surprise boost for Keir Starmer as he would still vote for Labour despite the government’s difficult time in office.
Lord Rose, the chairman of Asda, told LBC that there is widespread frustration with Labour – but suggested that’s still better than the alternatives.
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“We’re in a situation now where I think many people in this country would be disappointed with the government they have elected,” Rose told LBC.
“We’ve now got a situation where I don’t believe the Conservatives can make a recovery in time for the next election.
“So let’s assume it’s the election after that.
“You are now going to find yourself in a very difficult situation in 2027, ’28, ’29, where if Labour don’t start delivering some [economic] growth, the Conservatives haven’t recovered in time, and you’ve got the other option – what are you going to vote for?
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“Are you going to vote for Reform or are you going to vote for a second government?”
He said: “I would vote for another Labour government, but I would want some change in the meantime.”
Asked why he would vote for another round of Labour, he said: “It’s a question of degrees of pain, isn’t it?
“If I can’t have a resurgent Conservative Party, and they’ve got a lot of work to do to make themselves re-electable – or I’ve got the alternative, which, frankly, is supping with the devil.”
Asked what Kemi Badenoch has to do to secure the Tory peer’s vote again, he said: “She’s got to be doing more of what she’s begun now, I think, but I just think, it does, in all these things, require time, and I’m not sure time is on their side.”
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The prime minister has been under pressure to explain the role Downing Street played after the case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry collapsed last month.
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They were charged with collecting and communicating information which could be “useful to an enemy” between December 2021 and February 2023. They denied all the accusations.
Stephen Parkinson, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said his team had tried “over many months” to get the evidence it needed against the two alleged spies, but it had not been forthcoming from the government.
Starmer has insisted that because the alleged offences took place under the previous Conservative government, that administration’s refusal to describe China as a “threat” meant his hands were tied.
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At prime minister’s questions, the PM announced that the government will publish all of the evidence it submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Badenoch said Starmer had been “dragged” to this position and added: “It is simply unbelievable that he is trying to say the last government did not classify China as a threat.”
The Tory leader said Cash and Berry “were charged under a Conservative government – they were let off under Labour”.
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She added: “What is the point of us having a lawyer rather than a leader as prime minister when he can’t even get the law right on a matter of national security?”
But Starmer hit back: “She’s clearly not a lawyer or a leader. The problem for her is that I do actually know the law, I know what’s got to be proven.”
🚨 NEW: Kemi Badenoch asks Keir Starmer \"what’s the point of us having a lawyer rather than a leader\" as PM if he \"can’t get the law right\" on national security
Starmer: \"She’s clearly not a lawyer or a leader. The problem for her is I do actually understand the law\" #PMQspic.twitter.com/cRiu73szqs
","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Politics UK","author_url":"https://twitter.com/PolitlcsUK","cache_age":86400,"description":"🚨 NEW: Kemi Badenoch asks Keir Starmer \"what’s the point of us having a lawyer rather than a leader\" as PM if he \"can’t get the law right\" on national security Starmer: \"She’s clearly not a lawyer or a leader. The problem for her is I do actually understand the law\" #PMQs pic.twitter.com/cRiu73szqs— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) October 15, 2025\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","thumbnail_height":730,"thumbnail_url":"https://pbs.twimg.com/amplify_video_thumb/1978422063619563520/img/en3VgWDrukw78DLK.jpg:large","thumbnail_width":1318,"title":"Politics UK on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1978422842862477691","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isMobile":false,"isAdsFree":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"68ef82cfe4b03d2464051cd7","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/shes-not-a-lawyer-or-a-leader-starmer-roasts-badenoch-over-china-spy-row_uk_68ef82cfe4b03d2464051cd7","entryTagsList":"keir-starmer,china,kemi-badenoch,@ai_seo_headline","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"isShopping":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"16b0ecc6-802c-4120-845f-e90629812c4d","clickToPlayPlayer":"823ac03a-0f7e-4bcb-8521-a5b091ae948d","videoPagePlayer":"05041ada-93f7-4e86-9208-e03a5b19311b","defaultPlaylist":"2e062669-71b4-41df-b17a-df6b1616bc8f"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":3},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"68ef82cfe4b03d2464051cd7","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"keir starmer","slug":"keir-starmer","links":{"relativeLink":"news/keir-starmer","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/keir-starmer","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/keir-starmer"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/keir-starmer/"},{"name":"China","slug":"china","links":{"relativeLink":"news/china","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/china","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/china"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/china/"},{"name":"kemi badenoch","slug":"kemi-badenoch","links":{"relativeLink":"news/kemi-badenoch","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/kemi-badenoch","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/kemi-badenoch"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/kemi-badenoch/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"backfillRelatedArticles":[],"cetUnit":"buzz_body","enableIncontentPlayer":false,"bodyAds":["
🚨 NEW: Kemi Badenoch asks Keir Starmer “what’s the point of us having a lawyer rather than a leader” as PM if he “can’t get the law right” on national security
Starmer: “She’s clearly not a lawyer or a leader. The problem for her is I do actually understand the law” #PMQspic.twitter.com/cRiu73szqs
The Tory leader also pledged to overturn Labour’s decision to add VAT to private school fees and scrap the changes to inheritance tax which have angered farmers.
She unveiled the eye-catching policies in a better-than-expected speech closing the Conservative conference which should be enough to see off any imminent threats to her leadership.
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But the main problem for the party’s leader is that no one truly believes that she will ever be in a position to deliver any of those policies.
Unfortunately for Badenoch, that is not a rogue poll. According to YouGov, just 20% of the public believe she has done well since becoming Tory leader last November, while only 11% believe the Tories are ready for government.
An almost identical number – 49% – do not believe she will still be in post the next time the country goes to the polls.
And even among those who voted for her to be party leader last year, 30% believe Badenoch should be replaced before the next general election.
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As if to emphasise the desperate state of the Tories’ popularity, a new poll by More in Common this morning gave Reform UK a 13-point lead over Labour, with the Tories a further point behind on just 19%.
Gideon Skinner, senior UK director at Ipsos ,said: “Kemi Badenoch clearly needs to do more to establish herself as a credible alternative to the current Labour government.
“It’s also the case that Keir Starmer certainly has his own problems in public opinion.
“But so far, it is Reform and Nigel Farage who seem to be benefiting from this more than Kemi Badenoch, while the biggest question still facing the Conservatives is how they can rebuild trust with voters who are still very critical of their legacy, so that they will listen to what they have to say in the first place.”
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Like Starmer following last week’s Labour conference, Badenoch will be mightily relieved that this week has gone well for her – despite the noises off about plots to replace her with Robert Jenrick.
However, both leaders still face a date with destiny on May 7 next year, when elections will take place for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd and in councils across England.
If the opinion polls are even remotely accurate, Labour and the Tories are on course for a disastrous set of results which would in all likelihood seal Starmer and Badenoch’s respective fates.
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More in Common’s Luke Tryl said: “Conference speeches rarely in of themselves move the dial. And lots of commentators thought Starmer gave a good speech last week and Reform’s lead grew.
“But I think in this case it will be a good test of whether anyone is still listening. If there’s no shift at all hard to see how anything other than major event gets them back in the game.”
The Tory leader’s policy blitz of the past few days – including a pledge to quit the European Convention on Human Rights – may well by her valuable breathing space.
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But the chances of her ever being in position to implement them in government are virtually non-existent.
In her closing speech at the annual Tory conference in Manchester, the party leader insisted that she had a plan to fix Britain’s “broken model” – including the housing market.
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“Young people trapped in the pain of working,” she said.
“Pensioners wanting to downsize. Stamp duty is a bad tax. We must go further. We must free up our housing market’I have looked at the stamp duty thresholds to see where we can change them. I have decided that we can’t. That simply will not be enough.
“Conference, the next Conservative government will abolish stamp duty on your home. It will be gone.”
Stamp duty is a tax property or land buyers have to buy if purchasing a property over a certain price in England and Northern Ireland.
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Badenoch claimed she would be able to afford to do this by introducing a “golden economic rule” where “every pound we save will go to work, at least half will go towards cutting the deficit, because living within our means is our first priority.”
She continued: “And with the rest, we will get Britain growing and bring down the taxes which are stifling our economy.”
Although the Tories have consistently polled at less than 20% in recent months, Badenoch also listed all of the tax hikes Labour has already implemented and called them “shameful”.
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“The tax burden is so high it is making Britain poorer because business is giving up, business is leaving,” the MP for North West Essex said.
“Britain is being held back by a broken model,” Badenoch claimed. “To fix our country, we must reverse Labour’s broken measures.
“So, we will cancel their vindictive tax on education,” she said, alluding to Labour’s decision to drop the VAT exemption on private schools.
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“We will scrap their tax on family farms,” she added, pointing to the government’s decision to tax inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1m at 20%.
“We will scrap their tax on family businesses,” Badenoch noted, after Labour introduced a cap on business property relief.
“We will reverse the terrible measures in Angela Rayner’s Unemployment bill, written by the unions, for the unions,” she claimed, attacking the Employment Rights Bill meant to update workers’ rights.
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She also announced that “together we would build something better.”
In her speech, Badenoch insisted that “only the Tory Party can deliver the stronger economy and stronger borders that will give people a more prosperous future,” while claiming Starmer is “utterly useless and weak”.
Her remarks come after her shadow chancellor Mel Stride alarmed fellow Tories by admitting he would raise income tax if he were Rachel Reeves and facing a huge fiscal black hole in the government’s finances.
He said this would be “the cleanest thing to do”, because hiking VAT would be inflationary.
His comments sparked immediate backlash from fellow Tories – including from Tory peer David Frost and shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith, who could not hide his astonishment at Stride’s comments yesterday.
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Stride also pledged to save £47bn a year, by cutting welfare, civil service and foreign aid.
This policy blitz comes after a quiet period from the Tories, who – ever since Badenoch was appointed as leader last November – have refrained from unveiling any substantial plans for government, until now.
Over the last week, Badenoch has also vowed to cut the civil service to 2016 numbers, promised to take Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights, deport 150,000 illegal migrants each year, and repeal the Climate Change Act.
The number of delegates attending key events at the Conservative Party conference seems to be depressingly low, judging by photos of the main hall.
It’s the party’s first annual gathering since Kemi Badenoch won the leadership contest last November and the atmosphere appears to be particularly flat.
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While it’s not too surprising – considering the Tories’ historic loss at the 2024 general election and how they are currently polling at just 16% according to YouGov – it’s a bleak reminder of just how much has changed for the party who were in government only 15 months ago.
Sky News’ Amanda Akass noted that it was “not exactly a packed hall” for the shadow chancellor Mel Stride’s speech today – and attached a photo of a room which appeared to be about two-thirds empty.
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GB News also said it was the “quietest” Tory conference seen in the last nine years in an interview with Stride – although he tried to pass this year’s gathering off as a “turning point” for the party.
Ellie Costello asks the Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride, whether the poor attendance at the Conservative Party conference is a sign that the Tories are ‘dying’.
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Ellie Costello asks the Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride, whether the poor attendance at the Conservative Party conference is a sign that the Tories are ‘dying’.
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Naturally, Labour took a pop too, comparing Stride’s claim that the Tories are the “party of hope” and “the party of the future” to the small audience size…
