Kemi Badenoch: “This is what happens to strong women. If you don’t play ball, they will come after you

DEffiant Kemi Badenoch has vowed she won’t give up her tough style, saying: “This is what always happens with strong women. If you don’t play ball, they’ll come after you.”

The favorite to become Tory leader next month was responding to claims by Tory critics that she had been “too abrasive” and Dr Who actor David Tennant, who said he wished she would “shut up”.

In a candid interview with Independent TV, she said: “People know I’m pretty tough. I’m not afraid. I’ll always do the right thing, and I won’t be silent when it’s time to speak up.”

The former business secretary was apparently hurt by a jab from a Tory MP who said she should spend more time being a mum, replying: “All I want to do is spend time with my kids.”

But she also said she was “flattered” by comparisons with another outspoken female Tory leader Margaret Thatcher – adding there were “similarities” between them.

A poll of party members this week has put Kemi Badenoch ahead in the leadership race (GB News/PA) (PA Media)

Noting that Thatcher was known for her trademark handbag, she said her counterpart was her braids and distinctive round-rimmed glasses.

“The comparisons with Lady Thatcher are flattering, but I am Kemi. I’m not her. We have similarities. She was a scientist. For example, I was an engineer.”

Thatcher focused on new policy to build “frameworks for the future – that’s what I want us to do.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Badenoch also said:

Discussed her belief that the UK will have to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), despite not making it a policy like her opponent Robert Jenrick
Suggested that dual policing was a problem in the UK
But insisted officers would be fully backed over the Chris Kaba murder
Claimed the party’s future “isn’t about right and left” but “right and wrong”

Ms Badenoch admitted she was still stunned by criticism of her stance on trans issues from actor David Tennant at an LGBT++ awards ceremony earlier this year, where he said from the stage he wished the then equalities minister would “shut up”.

“I was surprised by that and it was very important that I spoke up. One of the things that I found is that there are a lot of women who feel voiceless. There are a lot of women who have been told to shut up. There are a lot of women who have been fired from their jobs for asking for female-only single-sex restroom spaces, because they say biological sex is real.

Conservative Party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA thread)

“If I, then Minister for Women and Gender Equality, as I was then, also shut up because a TV actor tells me to do it, what signal am I sending them?

“This is what always happens with strong women. If you don’t play ball, they’ll come after you.”

To her that right-wing conservative “strong women” like her or former rival Suella Braverman face this type of abuse more, Badenoch disagreed.

“I think that the stronger the personality and the more unusual the politician, the more likely it is that they will get very strong reactions from people. And actually I think that’s something that will be very helpful for us to cut through the opposition. We need a leader who will cut through.”

Her campaign has been dogged by questions about whether she is “too abrasive” or divided to lead a Tory party that has been characterized more by its infighting in recent years than attacks on its opponents.

She sees claims that she is a puppet of former government colleague Michael Gove, an accusation Badenoch describes as “very strange” but far from new, noting that her supporters range from former One Nation group chairman Damian Green on the party’s left to Brexiteer former European Research Group (ERG) chairman Steve Baker on the right, and also includes two ex-leaders in Iain Duncan Smith and William Hague.

Badenoch has been compared to Thatcher (PA) (PA Archives)

She added: “There is only one unity candidate in this election and that is why all the ministers who work with me in the Department for Business and Trade are supporting me, whether they are former MPs or current MPs, ministers.”

She drew a line with her opponent in the last two Robert Jenrick whose campaign has been defined by policies such as leaving the European Convention, while she has deliberately avoided making many policy decisions.

However, she does not necessarily disagree with Jenrick’s analysis of the European Convention.

“I think we will probably have to leave the European Convention. But if we left today, we would not deport more people, because that was not the only reason given for the failure of the Rwanda plan. There are other things like the Refugee Convention, the Modern Slavery Act, the Human Rights Act.”

She also suggested there was a problem of two-pronged policing in the UK and was highly critical of Keir Starmer’s handling of the riots following the Southport murders.

“We need to make sure we show that we treat everyone equally. This principle of ‘equality under the law’ is absolutely key. And I think Keir Starmer got his response to these Southport riots wrong by focusing on the mistake that people made when it came to identifying the perpetrator, rather than focusing on a huge tragedy that happened.”

She has made a career out of tackling the so-called culture wars, either and makes no apologies for her tough stance as she insists that the police should be supported in the Chris Kaba shooting and denies those who make claims of “institutional racism ” over personal responsibility.

But Ms Badenoch rejects claims that a final between her and Jenrick represents a step to the right: “I tell people it’s not about left or right anymore. It’s about right and wrong.”