Badenoch channels Thatcher (and Truss) atop military machine
Now Kemi Badenoch has become the latest female Conservative leader to pose atop a British Army vehicle.
Mrs Badenoch sat in the turret of the Mastiff armoured patrol car as she visited a British Army base in her constituency.
The Tory leader smiled as she was driven around Carver Barracks near Debden, Essex.
Her choice of vehicle came with less firepower than Ms Truss and Thatcher.
In 1986, the then-prime minister rode atop a Challenger tank at a Nato training ground near Fallingbostel, West Germany.
Wearing a mac, scarf and goggles, Thatcher used a laser-guided weapons system to fire a 6lb practice shell from the tank.
She later declared she 'loved it'. The next day's edition of The Daily Telegraph described her outfit as a 'cross between Isadora Duncan and Lawrence of Arabia'.
As foreign secretary, Ms Truss imitated the Iron Lady 35 years later in 2021 when she posed riding a Challenger 2 tank in Tapa, Estonia.
Other pictures from Mrs Badenoch's visit to the barracks showed her pointing an assault rifle directly at the chest of a soldier.
Labour seized on the image and said the Tory leader had broken cadet rules that say 'a weapon must never be pointed at anyone in any circumstances'.
The regulations add: 'A weapon must always be handled so that it points in such a direction that there is no danger if a round is accidentally fired.'
A Labour source said: 'The reference to 'faulty or careless handling' in the guidance probably best describes her tenure as Tory leader.'
A Conservative spokesman hit back by asking: 'What fun-hating, pettifogging grouch seriously thinks this is worth complaining about?'
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