Tory leader Kemi Badenoch came under fire after saying she would consider means testing the pension triple lock after a keynote speech in which she lashed out at Boris Johnson
Kemi Badenoch reveals she’s in favour of ‘means-testing’ triple-lock pensions
Kemi Badenoch’s Tory leadership has descended into chaos after an eventful 24 hours which saw her slate previous Tory leaders before threatening to batter the triple lock.
It was supposed to be a day when she grabbed the initiative and showed she was serious amid a growing threat from Nigel Farage. But instead she found herself under fire and accused of putting pensioners “on notice”.
The divisive right-winger has only been in charge for 10 weeks, but has been dealt a series of body blows as the party tries to recover from its election mauling. The Conservatives are languishing behind a gleeful Mr Farage, and she has come under fire over a string of unconvincing performances at PMQs.
On Thursday she delivered a keynote speech in which she accused the previous Tory Government of telling the public what they wanted to hear – with no plan to deliver. In a veiled swipe at Boris Johnson she lashed out at the way Brexit was managed and insisted she is “doing a serious job”.
While that might have been hard for Conservative die-hards to hear, her comments on the triple lock risk alienating supporters still further. It was a surprise when she made her remarks, as she had indicated that it would be some time before she starts spelling out policies.
Here we look at what we’ve seen so far from Ms Badenoch and her efforts to change the party.
Triple lock debacle
Ms Badenoch was accused of “putting pensioners on notice” after suggesting she wants to means test the triple lock.
The Lib Dems branded her “bungling Badenoch” after her remarks raised alarm. The triple lock sees the state pension go up by either the infation rate, wage growth or 2.5%, whichever is higher.
The Tory leader told LBC radio: “We’re going to look at means testing. Means testing is something which we don’t do properly here.”
She went on: “Now the triple lock is a policy which we supported throughout our 14 years in government. That was a Conservative policy. But we need to make sure that we are growing. Starting with the triple lock is not how to solve the problem. We need to start with, why are we not making the same kind of money we used to make? And I tell people that we started living off our inheritance.”
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Kemi Badenoch has put pensioners on notice – she’s going to cut your State Pension.” And Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Bungling Badenoch has finally come up with her first new policy, slashing the state pension. The Conservatives urgently need to clarify what she meant and how many pensioners would lose out.”
Party has move on from failure – despite same faces at top
In her speech on Thursday, Ms Badenoch lashed out at the Tory Government, and said the party has changed.
It is worth noting that every member of her shadow cabinet has previous ministerial experience. The former Business Secretary handed key roles to Tory stalwarts Dame Priti Patel, Chris Philp, Mel Stride and Robert Jenrick.
In a blistering tirade against former senior Tories, she accused leaders of telling the public “what they wanted to hear” despite having no plan. She said: “We were making announcements without proper plans.
“We announced that we would leave the European Union before we had a plan for growth outside the EU. We made it the law that we would deliver Net-Zero by 2050, and only then did we start thinking about how we would do that.
“We announced year after year that we would lower immigration but despite our efforts immigration kept going up. Those mistakes were made because we told people what they wanted to hear first and then tried to work it out later.
“That is going to stop under my leadership.”
Refusing to call out Elon Musk
During her LBC phone-in, Ms Badenoch was asked about Elon Musk’s vile attacks on Home Office Minister Jess Phillips. He described her as a “witch” and a “rape genocide apologist” and she endured serious threats as a result.
Ms Badenoch said Musk had been “rude and insulting”, but said: “It can be quite unpleasant but I’m afraid that my calling people out in that way just because I don’t like what they say is against my principle of free speech.”
She said: “There’s only so much that I can spend my time saying, and I’m not wading into everybody’s battle. I will say things when I think it’s necessary for me to say them. Jess Phillips is a feisty person who spent a lot of time attacking others. She can fight her own battles.”
Deal with Nigel Farage?
With Reform UK threatening to bury the Tories, there has been talk of the two parties joining forces.
But asked if she would accept that, Ms Badenoch told an audience in London: “Nigel Farage says he wants to destroy the Conservative Party. Why on earth would we merge with that?”
Ms Badenoch was challenged by journalists over Mr Farage’s prominence. She whined: “”Nigel Farage has been knocking around for 20 plus years. He’s been leading all sorts of different parties, so he has had a head start.”
Should have done more on grooming gangs admission
Ms Badenoch said her calls now for a national grooming gangs inquiry are a “hindsight analysis”.
But she admitted that the Tories could have done more when they were in power. She said following Thursday’s speech: “I do think that we should have had a national inquiry, but I only think this now, having looked at the recommendations of the (Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse) report.”
She said her party did “a lot” including commissioning local inquiries. “So we did some things, but as the results came in, my view is that we should have done more. So saying it was a mistake would be hindsight analysis.
“At the time, we assumed that those inquiries would cover it. Now we can see that there is still more to do. So let’s do more. And the point I was making last week at PMQs, that this isn’t about blame. It’s not about whether Keir Starmer should have done this or we should have done that, it’s about what we do now.”
