It has been a busy Conservative conference for Kemi Badenoch, whose comments on Sunday about maternity pay have dominated the last few days. Each of the other candidates in the Tory leadership race is wary of saying anything that might remotely damage their chances next week. But Badenoch remains undaunted by criticism, as she showed in a trenchant performance at an ‘In Conversation’ event with The Spectator this evening in Birmingham.
Speaking to Fraser Nelson, Badenoch told the audience that:
‘Sometimes you have to walk through the fire… a lot of MPs are just afraid of not being liked, being scared of the mob. If we as Conservatives buckle every time we get criticism, we are not going to get anything done.’
It was a response which found favour with the packed-out crowd.
Badenoch’s supporters argue that she is the candidate who has done the most serious thinking about the future of the party. Her hour-long appearance was certainly staunchly ideological. She attacked those fellow Conservatives who rushed to condemn Roger Scruton in the New Statesman row; Tom Tugendhat was notably one of those who called for the late philosopher’s resignation.
‘Sometimes you have to walk through the fire,’ Badenoch said
‘If you’re not prepared to fight for conservatives, to fight for your people’, she said ‘you have no business being involved in politics.’ Her most strident criticism, though, was reserved for the civil service. Between ‘five to ten per cent’ of officials, she joked, ‘are very, very bad. You know, should be in prison bad’, suggesting that this minority is responsible for leaking official secrets, undermining ministers and agitating against MPs. Badenoch’s comments – which were clearly intended humorously – are already being interpreted as a call to sack 50,000 civil servants, ten per cent of the current work force.
Similarly withering criticism was directed at Conservative Campaign Headquarters. Badenoch regaled attendees with the story of how she was almost the victim of a ‘stitch up’ in Saffron Walden in 2017. The party hierarchy, she argued, has failed in its quality control of candidates:
‘As we have seen from all of the MP scandals, there are clearly some people who get to be candidates who have no business being there.’
Badenoch admitted too to being ‘extremely frustrated’ by Rishi Sunak’s election campaign:
‘This election, someone decided that national service was going to be the policy. I heard about it the same time everyone else did.’
Such remarks went down well in the room, but may hold less appeal for nervy Tory MPs, bruised by the Whitehall battles of the past five years. Badenoch’s argument is that she is not in this for herself; hence the focus on ‘renewal’ by 2030. Her supporters claim she is the only one with the mettle to make tough choices. Yet for some, the constant battles are a turn-off. One thing is for sure: she will carry on in this contest in the only way she knows how. As she said this evening: ‘I don’t have fights I can’t win. I win my fights and that’s what makes the difference.’ Next week will prove the acid test.
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