Badenoch claims Tory defectors to Reform having ‘tantrum dressed up as politics’

Conservatives defecting to Reform are having a “tantrum dressed up as politics”, Kemi Badenoch has said in a major speech.

The Tory leader also insisted that members of her party advocating for a more centrist approach must row behind her agenda, and claimed both Reform UK and Labour had proven themselves to be “drama queens”.

In what appeared to be a message to her former colleagues Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman, the Conservative leader told a central London audience: “To those who are defecting, who don’t actually disagree with our policies, I will say: I’m sorry you didn’t win the leadership contest.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get a job in the shadow cabinet. I’m sorry you didn’t get into the Lords. But you are not offering a plan to fix this country. This is a tantrum dressed up as politics.

“When my kids have a tantrum, I don’t give up or change my mind. I send them to their room. And I say to everyone else: if that tantrum ever found its way into government, we would all pay the price, because just like Labour, they do not have a plan for government.”

She then listed her Conservative Party’s policy platform, with “stronger borders”, halting de-industrialisation, and cutting welfare among her offer to voters.

Mrs Badenoch said: “That’s the party I’m leading – a party of serious people, not drama queens.”

She also signalled she disagreed with a centrist group of Conservatives who are urging her to pursue a moderate agenda.

Prosper UK, a centre-right movement set up by Sir Andy Street and Baroness Ruth Davidson, has claimed moving to the centre ground will provide a point of difference with Reform.

But Mrs Badenoch appeared to disagree, saying: “This is my message to them: we’re about the future, not the past. We’re not trying to recreate 2006, and it’s not 2016 any more. We are not refighting those battles.

“It’s 2026, and the world has changed. This is about the future and I am building a Conservative Party for the next decade and the next generation.”

She later added: “Anyone who wants to help Conservatives get into No 10, help deliver a Conservative government, I will welcome, but they need to recognise the agenda which I am setting.

“I’m the leader of the Conservative Party, not to anyone else, and it is what I think needs to happen that they need to support, because that is what Conservative Party members have voted for.”

Mrs Badenoch said anyone who disagrees with her plans “need to get out of the way”.

She added: “There are people in politics who don’t really know what they are doing or why. They just want to be in the room. They want to be on top. They want access, attention and advancement.

“When they don’t get their way, they create drama. What we need are people who are going to help get Britain working again, and that means we have to be a truly Conservative Party, so I won’t apologise to those walking away, because they don’t like the new direction. We only want Conservatives.”

Mrs Badenoch also announced that the Conservative Party was now looking for its “next generation” of MPs, and invited applications.

“We are building an army that is going to deliver meritocracy, dismantle the bureaucratic class, and get Britain working again,” she said.

Daisy Cooper, Liberal Democrat deputy leader, said the invite was “like an arsonist running a firefighter recruitment drive”.

She also invited centrist Tories to defect to the Lib Dems, adding: “Her slapdown of Ruth Davidson and Andy Street sent a clear message to moderate, centre-ground Conservative voters across the country: she doesn’t want their support.

“The Liberal Democrats will offer a home to all those let down by the old two parties and who believe in British values of decency, tolerance and the rule of law.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Nobody is listening to the dying Tory Party. Kemi Badenoch refuses to apologise for the unforgivable mess her party left behind in government, or the damage they inflicted on family finances.

“The public will not trust arsonists complaining about the fire they set. The Conservatives are not serious, they’re not sorry, and are too consumed with holding together their terminally broken party.

“Only Labour is delivering on the priorities of the British people – cutting the cost of living, bringing down waiting lists, and restoring pride back in communities.”

A Prosper UK spokesman said: “We welcome Kemi Badenoch’s remarks promising to make economic growth a bigger focus as she rebuilds the party. More of that please.

“But while the party rebuilds itself, as it must, we will be out there meeting the wider group of voters who don’t yet identify with any party and offering ideas and solutions to the matters they care most about – the cost of living, jobs, housing and more.

“So, whilst she cracks on, we’ll do the same.”