Back to the Commons, where Kemi Badenoch has been making waves. The shadow housing secretary has been ruffling feathers in her own party as its attention turns to a looming leadership contest and Badenoch has not been making life easy for opposition politicians either – and this time it’s Angela Rayner in the firing line.
In just 13 minutes, Badenoch managed to tear apart the new Deputy Prime Minister, her politics and her party. First congratulating her rival on being appointed to such an esteemed position, Badenoch was quick to point out to how Rayner had grown up with a Conservative government, telling the Commons that the Tories will indeed take some of the credit for her success. Then the shadow housing secretary turned to Rayner’s role in the Labour party – and served up some rather unpleasant home truths…
All the stuff the Secretary of State worked on in opposition, like the New Deal for Workers, has been taken off her and given to the Business Secretary. I’m sorry to tell the right honourable lady that her colleagues – the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and their many advisers – have written a manifesto and made promises that are not deliverable, and they’ve hung it around her neck and said ‘Angela, you go out there and you sell it’. I’m sad to see many of her shadow team not sitting beside her as ministers. They worked for free, grinding in opposition for years, only to watch the children of the Chosen Ones to get the ministerial cars and salaries before their maiden speeches are written.
Ouch. And she didn’t stop there. As the shadow minister’s argument blossomed, the Deputy PM looked increasingly uncomfortable – and not least because Badenoch’s words reinforced what her own allies briefed last weekend: that Sir Keir Starmer’s top team are trying to freeze Ange out. Get the popcorn at the ready…
Watch the full clip here:
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