Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused on Wednesday to repeat the litany of allegations made by Kemi Badenoch, his business secretary, against the man she sacked as Post Office chairman.
On the other hand, few British politicians would have used the cutting words Badenoch directed at Henry Staunton, whom she accused of spreading “a series of falsehoods” about the Horizon IT scandal as part of “a blatant attempt at revenge following the dismissal”.
Sunak resisted Sir Keir Starmer’s call to repeat those accusations – rebuffed by Staunton – but the episode provided a revealing glimpse of what British politics might look like if Badenoch ends up leading his party after the next election.
“It would be full of arguments, disagreements, spectacular firings, noise,” said Paul Goodman, the veteran conservative commentator. “The risks of this approach are immense. It’s an ambitious act, but sometimes it works.
The idea of Badenoch succeeding Sunak after a possible Tory election defeat later this year is common currency among Conservative MPs and bookmakers make her 2-1 favourite, ahead of Penny Mordaunt and Suella Braverman.
Conservative activists love her, as shown by the “ranking” of ministers on the ConservativeHome blog. Badenoch tops the table this month with an approval rating of plus 58, compared to minus 18 for Sunak.
Badenoch, 44, spent his youth between Britain and Nigeria, where his middle-class family life was rocked by political upheaval. Sent to live with a family friend in south London, she enrolled at a local college for A-levels and worked at McDonald’s to support herself.
“She was poorer in the UK than in Nigeria,” said one former minister. “People in the party admire the fact that she worked hard and she rose up through discipline and resilience.”
Goodman said Badenoch’s position as an “anti-woke black woman” made her popular among predominantly white, older party members. Badenoch, she added, says things that she fears “could get them in trouble if they spoke out.”
Badenoch, who pursued a career in financial services and consultancy before entering parliament as MP for Saffron Walden in 2017, has never had any reservations about speaking out. Conservative MPs believe this is both her strength and her Achilles heel.
His attacks on Staunton this week confirmed an extremely confident and assertive style that at times clashes directly with what his opponents would call “facts.”
For example, Badenoch last month said trade talks with Canada were “ongoing” even after she unilaterally suspended them, a version of events flatly contradicted by Ralph Goodale, the Canadian high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Badenoch’s team later said it was “having multiple discussions, these are different to the negotiations” with Canada. Goodale said there had been “neither negotiations nor technical discussions.”
On Wednesday Badenoch, who is also equalities minister, was challenged on whether she had been entirely truthful when she said in December that she had “engaged extensively with LGBT groups”.
Ben Bradshaw, a Labor MP, obtained data from Badenoch’s department through a Freedom of Information Act request which showed just two meetings with two gender skeptic groups.
A Badenoch ally said the minister had “exchanged numerous emails and letters” with various LGBT groups. “This is all commitment. The truth is, Ben Bradshaw just wants her to meet the likes of Stonewall and Sirene, who support self-identification, something Kemi doesn’t support.
Badenoch, a Brexiteer, infuriated fellow Eurosceptics last year when she played down plans for a “bonfire” of EU laws that remain in the British statute book after Brexit, bluntly telling MPs: “I am not certainly an arsonist. I’m a conservative.
Some Eurosceptics have not forgiven her. “You are just a replacement for Michael Gove,” said one leading Tory Brexiter, referring to the secretary’s growing support for Badenoch’s tilt at party leadership in the summer of 2022 after Boris Johnson is ousted.
But his decision to abandon a leading Brexiteer policy won him admirers among Tory center MPs, who saw it as evidence of a pragmatic and thoughtful minister.
Andrew Lewer, a Conservative MP and Badenoch ally, said political attacks on the business secretary this week, whether on the Post Office, Canadian trade talks or LGBT issues, were politically motivated.
“Her abilities and Labour’s fear of them are clearly what’s behind the latest ‘Get Kemi’ frenzy,” he said.
A shadow Labor minister said Badenoch’s willingness to shoot from the hip would ultimately backfire on voters. “When Rishi leaves, we want it to be Kemi.”
Badenoch insists he wants no part of the leadership’s “small talk” and says he fully supports Sunak despite his party’s terrible poll numbers. He supported Sunak for the Tory leadership when Liz Truss’s premiership imploded in October 2022.
But Conservative MPs see evidence of maneuvering by his team, citing for example a briefing to the Times newspaper that Badenoch had urged Sunak to step up action against illegal immigration.
His allies share a WhatsApp group jokingly called “Evil Plotters.” Most Conservative MPs expect Badenoch to become a crucial figure should the Conservatives find themselves in need of a new leader after their general election defeat.