Kemi Badenoch is not good enough to lead the country or the Conservatives, an ex-Tory MP has warned. Andrea Jenkyns took a swipe at her former colleague, saying during an exclusive interview with the Daily Express that she does not “rate” the Leader of the Opposition.
Ms Jenkyns, who defected from the Tories to Reform UK in November, blasted Mrs Badenoch for not being a “conviction politician” who was “weak” as a government minister in charge of tearing up remaining EU laws. The outspoken politician, who is Reform’s mayoral candidate for Greater Lincolnshire, said: “I’ve never rated her. I left when she became leader but I saw how she operated as a minister and I just don’t think she’s right for leading our country or the Conservative Party.
“What you see is not what you get with her. I don’t feel she’s a conviction politician, this is my personal view from someone who knew her in Parliament over the years.
“And if you also look at when she was international trade minister, she was responsible for tearing up the last of the EU laws on the statute … she was very weak on that.
“And I think that just really demonstrates that she’s not the right person.”
But a Tory adviser hit back: “Andrea Jenkyns should concentrate a bit more on the unseemly civil war engulfing the leadership of her new party.”
Ms Jenkyns’ explosive remarks, made during a wide-ranging interview which will be published on express.co.uk later this week, come amid reports of a Tory plot to oust Mrs Badenoch just four months into her leadership.
Former Tory and Reform aides are reportedly discussing a “unite the Right” plot to kick her out and limit Conservative losses in May’s local elections.
A group of former officials with “significant” backing from donors are planning to launch a campaign in the next few weeks, according to reports.
Reform UK has firmly denied any plans for a deal of any kind ahead of the May local elections, as the party surges ahead of the Conservatives in the polls.
Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, has revealed that he met Dominic Cummings, the former chief adviser to Boris Johnson and architect of Brexit, for dinner to discuss the future of the Tories.
The Conservatives are widely expected to lose hundreds of seats in the local elections on May 1, with many set to go to Reform. The Tories will be defending 1,450 which were last won in 2021 at the height of Mr Johnson’s government.
Ms Jenkyns, a Conservative MP from 2015-24, said it would be difficult for the Tories to change leader so soon.
Referring to the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, she said: “I think it’s very hard to oust her now, because they’ve changed the 1922 rules, so you need more MPs to oust a leader.”
She added that a lot of Tory MPs have opposition jobs so they have “bought into” her leadership, making a move less likely.
Mrs Badenoch defended her leadership when asked about Tory dismay over her failure to “cut through” with the public.
“I’m not going to pretend that I won’t have critics and it’s not easy to find critics, this is politics. Being a politician is about being criticised,” she said following a speech on net zero targets in north London.
“What I’m asking people to do is listen to what I’m saying. I am not doing what all the other parties are doing, we are changing the way we do things.
“The Conservative Party is under new leadership and we have to make sure we think things through and don’t just give announcements without a proper plan to back them up.”