James Heale James Heale

Is Kemi Badenoch backed by ‘evil plotters’?

Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images

It seems that talk of Tory treachery simply won’t go away. Less than 48 hours after Kemi Badenoch declared that colleagues planning to bring down Rishi Sunak are ‘not my friends’, the Guardian has today revealed that the Trade Secretary is a member of WhatsApp group titled ‘Evil Plotters’. Among the members of this group is her fellow cabinet member Michael Gove, a past master of the dark arts of politics. The paper also notes claims she regularly meets with her ‘key MP backers’ and has an aide ‘still working on leadership stuff.’

Team Badenoch have been quick to dismiss suggestions that she is working on any campaign. Her spokesman says that ‘having lunch, speaking to MPs, and having a parliamentary special adviser is not a plot, it is the day-to-day job of being a secretary of state’ and suggested that ‘This utter nonsense is clearly part of a targeted campaign against Kemi.’

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