Kemi Badenoch had a head-start in preparing her response to Rachel Reeves’s Budget after this morning’s OBR leak. It was an opportunity she made the most of. The Tory leader’s blistering response in the Commons tore what was left of the Budget apart. But it wasn’t just Reeves’ policies that Badenoch went after: the attacks got pretty personal…
Badenoch blasted Reeves’s statement as an ‘exercise in self-delusion’, before mocking the Chancellor over a recent series of interviews in which she claimed she was fed up of being ‘mansplained’ too. In a quite stunning evisceration, Badenoch tore into a rather uncomfortable looking Reeves:
Madam Deputy Speaker, let me explain to the Chancellor. Woman to woman. People out there aren’t complaining because she’s female. They’re complaining because she is utterly incompetent. Real equality means being held to the same standard as everyone else. It means being judged on results. Take her bright idea. The Office for Value for Money. It’s been closed down because it didn’t save a penny. In fact, it cost the taxpayer £1.6 million. You couldn’t make this stuff up. Madam Deputy Speaker, I’ve identified a way to save taxpayers huge amounts of money by sacking just one person. The woman sitting opposite.
Ouch. The Tory leader continued:
Madam Deputy speaker. She says she wants people to respect her. Respect is earned. She told Labour MPs this week: I’ll show the media, I’ll show the Tories, I will not let them beat me. Show us what? Making stuff up at the despatch box, incompetence, chaos and the highest tax burden in history. She said to them, Madam Deputy Speaker, I’ll be there on Wednesday. I’ll be there next year, and I’ll be back the year after that. God help us. She is spineless, shameless and completely aimless.
Burn…
Watch the clip here:
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