Kemi Badenoch has refused to say if she admires Nigel Farage on a day that saw 20 Tory councillors defect to Reform UK.
The floundering Tory leader insisted it was a “good conference” in Manchester amid questions about her leadership and the lacklustre atmosphere, with rows of empty seats at big speeches. Ms Badenoch started the day with a series of humiliating interviews, during which she was asked if she’d quit as Tory leader after the local elections, refused to answer questions, then claimed not to hear before repeating exactly what she’d been asked.
Speaking with Sky News, Ms Badenoch also said her most proud moment as leader was the party being “united”, a boast that came despite numerous MPs and councillors quitting under her leadership.
Asked if she admired Nigel Farage “as a politician” by Beth Rigby, Mr Badenoch answered “on what basis?”. Pushed on whether she admired him, the Tory leader claimed not to “understand” the question, before asking why she wasn’t being quizzed about Keir Starmer or Ed Davey”.
She added: “Well I think it’s very interesting that a lot of the media in Westminster is very interested about asking about Nigel Farage. I’m not interested in Nigel Farage, I’m interested in the Conservative Party. You tell me that people aren’t interested in me. I’m on your show. Ask me about what I think. You spent most of the interview asking about Reform. Reforms already had their conference Beth.”
A total of 19 former Conservative MPs have crossed the floor to join Mr Farage’s party, though only two are still MPs. Ms Badenoch was also grilled on whether she’d stand down if the Tories go backwards in next year’s elections.
Asked “do you think you should stand down?”, the Tory leader said “I’m sorry I didn’t hear your question”, only to say “I think you just asked that question” after it was repeated. She said: “What I’m here to do at my conference is not talk about where I’m going in May or what’s happening”.
The deluded leader also described her great pride at keeping the party “united”, dismissing polls saying half of Tory members don’t think she’s the right person to lead them into the next election. Ms Badenoch said: “I simply don’t believe that. That’s not what’s happening at the conference. That’s what people told me”.
In a separate interview with the BBC, Ms Badenoch dismissed the defections as a “stunt”. She said: “As we saw last year, when we had Conservatives defect to Labour, we had three MPs, defect to Labour from Conservatives. Some people just want to go with whoever is winning.”
Meanwhile, a cringey clip showed Ms Badenoch singing “Sweet Caroline” with young activists.
