Kemi Badenoch urged Reform to turn its fire on Keir Starmer rather than the Conservatives today as she accused Nigel Farage of ‘punching us from behind and letting Labour off the hook’.
The Conservative leader blasted a wave of defections by ‘drama queens’ to Reform in the past fortnight which have taken attention away from the Prime Minister when he is struggling at home and abroad.
In a major speech this morning she claimed that the likes of Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman and Nadhim Zahawi were having a ‘tantrum dressed up as politics’ because they had had their personal ambitions dashed.
And she made an appeal for a new ‘army’ of Conservative candidates who actually want to represent the party.
In what appeared to be a message to Mr Jenrick and the other who walked out on her, the Conservative leader said: ‘To those who are defecting, who don’t actually disagree with our policies, I will say, I’m sorry you didn’t win the leadership contest.
‘I’m sorry you didn’t get a job in the shadow cabinet. I’m sorry you didn’t get into the Lords. But you are not offering a plan to fix this country. This is a tantrum dressed up as politics.
‘When my kids have a tantrum, I don’t give up or change my mind. I send them to their room, and I say to everyone else, if that tantrum ever found its way into government, we would all pay the price, because just like Labour, they do not have a plan for government.’
Mrs Badenoch also signalled she disagreed with the more centrist group of Conservatives, urging her to pursue a moderate agenda as a point of difference with Reform.
The Conservative leader blasted a wave of defections by ‘drama queens’ to Reform in the past fortnight which have taken attention away from the Prime Minister when he is struggling at home and abroad.
In a major speech this morning she claimed that the likes of Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman and Nadhim Zahawi were having a ‘tantrum dressed up as politics’ because they had had their personal ambitions dashed.
In what appeared to be a message to Mr Jenrick and the other who walked out on her, the Conservative leader said: ‘To those who are defecting, who don’t actually disagree with our policies, I will say, I’m sorry you didn’t win the leadership contest’
She said: ‘This is my message to them. We’re about the future, not the past. We’re not trying to recreate 2006 and it’s not 2016 anymore. We are not refighting those battles. It’s 2026 and the world has changed. This is about the future and I am building a Conservative Party for the next decade and the next generation.’
The message comes just days after two Conservative politicians, Sir Andy Street and Baroness Ruth Davidson, have urged their party to be more ‘centrist’ to beat Reform UK at the polls.
The two have launched a political movement, called Prosper UK, aimed at attracting millions of ‘politically homeless’ voters.
A Prosper UK spokesman said: ‘We welcome Kemi Badenoch’s remarks promising to make economic growth a bigger focus as she rebuilds the party. More of that please.
‘But while the party rebuilds itself, as it must, we will be out there meeting the wider group of voters who don’t yet identify with any party and offering ideas and solutions to the matters they care most about – the cost of living, jobs, housing and more.
‘So, whilst she cracks on, we’ll do the same.’
Mrs Badenoch also announced that the Conservative Party was now looking for its ‘next generation’ of MPs, and invited applications.
‘We are building an army that is going to deliver meritocracy, dismantle the bureaucratic class, and get Britain working again,’ she said.
Daisy Cooper, Lizeral Democrat deputy leader, said the invite was ‘like an arsonist running a firefighter recruitment drive’.
She also invited centrist Tories to defect to the Lib Dems, adding: ‘Her slapdown of Ruth Davidson and Andy Street sent a clear message to moderate, centre-ground Conservative voters across the country: she doesn’t want their support.
‘The Liberal Democrats will offer a home to all those let down by the old two parties and who believe in British values of decency, tolerance and the rule of law.’
A Labour Party spokesperson said: ‘Nobody is listening to the dying Tory Party. Kemi Badenoch refuses to apologise for the unforgivable mess her party left behind in government, or the damage they inflicted on family finances.‘
