Latest news with #economiccompetence
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Excruciating Moment Kemi Badenoch Struggles To Answer BBC's Fundamental Liz Truss Question
Kemi Badenoch looked bewildered when asked by the BBC if former prime minister Liz Truss was still a member of the Conservative Party. The current Tory leader served as the international trade secretary during Truss's short time in Downing Street in autumn 2022. But, since unveiling £45bn of unfunded tax cuts in her mini-Budget, subsequently being kicked out of office by her own MPs and then losing her parliament seat in last July's general election, Truss has become a sore spot for the Conservatives. Badenoch's own shadow chancellor Mel Stridetook aim at the former prime minister in a speech on Thursday, arguing that she had destroyed the party's reputation for economic competence. So on Friday, the BBC's political editor Chris Mason asked Badenoch: 'Why not throw her out of the party?' Badenoch frowned and asked: 'Is she still in the party?' 'Well, you tell me,' Mason said. 'Well, you tell me!' Badenoch laughed. 'You're the one asking the question.' 'You're the party leader,' he replied. Badenoch deflected by saying Stride's speech focused on how the mini-Budget did not 'balance'. Asked if that 'wrecked the Conservative brand,' she replied: 'Look at what happened, people didn't understand why we had done that, and so our reputation for economic competence was damaged.' Mason tried again: 'So why not kick Liz Truss out then?' Badenoch said the Tories are trying to show the public what their economic plans are, but claimed it 'is not about any particular individuals'. 'I don't want to be commenting on previous prime ministers,' the Conservative leader said. 'They've had their time. What am I going to do now? Removing people from a political party is neither here not there in terms of what it is your viewers want to see.' He replied: 'Well, maybe it is though, because maybe it would send a signal. Because you appear to be saying today that you're happy to have Liz Truss as a member of the Conservative Party.' Badenoch said: 'Chris, Liz Truss is not in parliament anymore. She's not in parliament anymore. 'We need to focus on how we're going to get this country back on track. What we have right now is a Labour government, it's Keir Starmer. 'We need to stop talking about several prime ministers ago and talk about the prime minister we've got now and what he's doing to the country.' Truss's press secretary later told HuffPost UK that he believes the ex-PM is still a member of the Conservative Party. "Is she [Liz Truss] still in the party?" Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch asks @ChrisMasonBBChttps:// — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) June 6, 2025 Kemi Badenoch Says Introducing Trump-Style Travel Ban Could Be 'Viable' For UK Kemi Badenoch Claims Nigel Farage's Reform UK Is 'Another Left-Wing Party' 'She Will Get Better': Mel Stride's Attempt To Defend Kemi Badenoch Backfires Spectacularly
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Excruciating Moment Kemi Badenoch Struggles To Answer BBC's Fundamental Liz Truss Question
Kemi Badenoch looked bewildered when asked by the BBC if former prime minister Liz Truss was still a member of the Conservative Party. The current Tory leader served as the international trade secretary during Truss's short time in Downing Street in autumn 2022. But, since unveiling £45bn of unfunded tax cuts in her mini-Budget, subsequently being kicked out of office by her own MPs and then losing her parliament seat in last July's general election, Truss has become a sore spot for the Conservatives. Badenoch's own shadow chancellor Mel Stridetook aim at the former prime minister in a speech on Thursday, arguing that she had destroyed the party's reputation for economic competence. So on Friday, the BBC's political editor Chris Mason asked Badenoch: 'Why not throw her out of the party?' Badenoch frowned and asked: 'Is she still in the party?' 'Well, you tell me,' Mason said. 'Well, you tell me!' Badenoch laughed. 'You're the one asking the question.' 'You're the party leader,' he replied. Badenoch deflected by saying Stride's speech focused on how the mini-Budget did not 'balance'. Asked if that 'wrecked the Conservative brand,' she replied: 'Look at what happened, people didn't understand why we had done that, and so our reputation for economic competence was damaged.' Mason tried again: 'So why not kick Liz Truss out then?' Badenoch said the Tories are trying to show the public what their economic plans are, but claimed it 'is not about any particular individuals'. 'I don't want to be commenting on previous prime ministers,' the Conservative leader said. 'They've had their time. What am I going to do now? Removing people from a political party is neither here not there in terms of what it is your viewers want to see.' He replied: 'Well, maybe it is though, because maybe it would send a signal. Because you appear to be saying today that you're happy to have Liz Truss as a member of the Conservative Party.' Badenoch said: 'Chris, Liz Truss is not in parliament anymore. She's not in parliament anymore. 'We need to focus on how we're going to get this country back on track. What we have right now is a Labour government, it's Keir Starmer. 'We need to stop talking about several prime ministers ago and talk about the prime minister we've got now and what he's doing to the country.' Truss's press secretary later told HuffPost UK that he believes the ex-PM is still a member of the Conservative Party. "Is she [Liz Truss] still in the party?" Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch asks @ChrisMasonBBChttps:// — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) June 6, 2025 Kemi Badenoch Says Introducing Trump-Style Travel Ban Could Be 'Viable' For UK Kemi Badenoch Claims Nigel Farage's Reform UK Is 'Another Left-Wing Party' 'She Will Get Better': Mel Stride's Attempt To Defend Kemi Badenoch Backfires Spectacularly
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Liz Truss hits back at Tory shadow chancellor for mini-budget disavowal
Liz Truss has hit out at the Conservatives' shadow chancellor after he formally disowned her hastily reversed 2022 mini-budget, saying it had damaged the party's reputation for economic competence. The former prime minister labelled Mel Stride a 'creature of the system', part of a failed fiscal orthodoxy which, she argued, would prevent the Conservatives taking power again if left unchallenged. Stride's insistence at a speech in London that 'never again' would the Conservatives offer up a largely unfunded package of tax cuts is the first time that the party hierarchy under its leader, Kemi Badenoch, has definitively cut itself off from Truss, who lasted just 49 days in power. One Tory shadow minister said the impetus for Stride's speech was in part to allow the Conservatives to attack Reform UK's lavish programme of tax cuts as being a potential re-run of the Truss debacle, as Keir Starmer did last week. In his speech, Stride labelled Reform's economic policies 'pure populism'. He added: 'They would plough ahead with huge additional welfare spending, as well as tax cuts, with no plan for how to pay for any of it.' Addressing Truss's September 2022 fiscal plans, which involved about £45bn in unfunded tax cuts, he said: 'For a few weeks, we put at risk the very stability which Conservatives had always said must be carefully protected. 'Back then mistakes were recognised and stability restored within weeks, with the full backing of our party. But the damage to our credibility is not so easily undone. That will take time. And it also requires contrition. So let me be clear: never again will the Conservative party undermine fiscal credibility by making promises we cannot afford.' Truss released a statement that called Stride 'one of the Conservative MPs who kowtowed to the failed Treasury orthodoxy and was set on undermining my plan for growth from the moment I beat his chosen candidate for the party leadership [Rishi Sunak]'. She added: 'Until Mel Stride admits the economic failings of the last Conservative government, the British public will not trust the party with the reins of power again.' In a later tweet, she again took aim personally at Stride, calling him 'a creature of the system' who, when the pair were both Treasury ministers under Theresa May, 'always went along with officials'. In his speech, Stride also urged people to have patience with Badenoch's leadership, saying: 'She will get better through time at the media. She will get better through time at the dispatch box at PMQs. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'Just as Margaret Thatcher, when she became leader in '75, was often criticised for everything from her hair to the clothes she wore to the pitch of her voice to heaven knows what else, in the end she got it together and Kemi will do absolutely that.' The Conservatives currently poll in third place behind Reform UK and Labour, with a YouGov poll published on Wednesday showing the Tories on 18%, just one point ahead of the Liberal Democrats. Badenoch's own favourability ratings have also fallen since she became party leader, reaching -27% according to a More in Common poll carried out last weekend.
