Watch: Kemi hits back at the ERG

Ding, ding, ding! In the blue corner, it’s Kemi Badenoch, the Trade Secretary and much-fancied leadership contender. And, er, also in the blue corner, is the combined forces of the European Research Group. A war of words has broken out between Badenoch and the Brexiteers over the government’s decision not to repeal all retained EU laws.

Speaking in the House of Commons this morning, ERG chair Mark Francois lamented that the government had performed ‘a massive climbdown on its own bill despite having such strong support from its backbenchers,’ adding to Badenoch: ‘What on earth are you playing at?’ Lindsay Hoyle joined in for good effect, chastising the minister for announcing the decision via a written statement. But now Badenoch has hit back in an interview with TalkTV, telling the broadcaster about a meeting she had last night with more than a dozen Brexiteer MPs:

There are a lot of people who talk but can’t do. I went in there, I spent quite a few months going through the detail. I asked MPs who had been in that meeting what they wanted to remove and they couldn’t say anything. And I think that is more illustrative of the problem that we have, that there are too many people who spend a lot of time talking, I need to do the thinking and the doing.

Ice need for that burn…