Kemi Badenoch hits back at the Guardian

Ding ding ding! The Tory leadership race is heating up, with the final six candidates now declared. But with Kemi Badenoch currently the bookies’ favourite to win, the Guardian has tonight published a story claiming she was guilty of ‘bullying and traumatising’ behaviour when running the Department for Business and Trade. The paper cites sources who accuse her of being ‘toxic and intimidating’ in the role, thanks to her ‘mercurial’ moods. The Graun also claims that at least three officials found her behaviour so difficult that they felt they had to leave.

One ‘insider’ is quoted as claiming Badenoch had people she would ‘single out’, alleging she was ‘passive-aggressive’ and subjected colleagues to ‘sustained bullying’. The paper further claims that senior officials in Badenoch’s government department are reported to have considered morale to be so low that a ‘town hall’ meeting was called – supposedly attended by 70 staff both in person and online in December 2023.