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Tory candidates trade blows on final weekend

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The Tory leadership contest looks set to end next week without a single ‘yellow card’ being awarded. But the two remaining candidates seem to be making a late bid for a reprimand from Bob Blackman. Both Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch have this morning traded verbal blows with each other, four days before polls close on Thursday. Talk about a Halloween massacre…

In an interview with today’s Sunday Telegraph, Kemi Badenoch was quoted as saying that ‘Integrity matters… with me you’d have a leader where there’s no scandal. I was never sacked for anything, I didn’t have to resign in disgrace or, you know, because there was a whiff of impropriety.’ The paper claimed that these remarks was ‘an apparent reference to Mr Jenrick’s involvement in a planning dispute when he was housing secretary.’

The ex-immigration minister duly appeared on GB News to give his reply. In an interview this morning, Jenrick noted that the original planning dispute had since been approved by Tower Hamlets council and told host Camilla Tominey:

I am proud of the way this long contest has been conducted.

Steerpike
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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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