‘She’s hitting out at everyone’: Is Kemi Badenoch damaging her leadership bid?
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Kemi Badenoch appeared to spark a backlash by saying maternity pay needs changing. But has she made a mistake by attacking the media for giving the story attention?
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Read time: 4 minutes
In brief…
- Kemi Badenoch said over the weekend maternity pay is “excessive”. But she later backtracked by saying it needs no changing at all.
- When asked about it by Emily at the Tory party conference, Badenoch denied that her comments sparked a row.
- The News Agents say her reaction to the scrutiny and her willingness to “start a fight” could damage her chances of becoming the next leader of the Conservative Party.
Kemi Badenoch brushes off her previous maternity pay comments
What’s the story?
Kemi Badenoch has earned a reputation for making bold statements, often involving attacks on woke culture and left wing ideology.
But she may have failed to strike a chord with the Tory members with her latest comments.
The former business and trade secretary said in an interview over the weekend she thinks the current level of statutory maternity pay has “gone too far”.
She said: "Maternity pay varies, depending on who you work for - but statutory maternity pay is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working."We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive. Businesses are closing, businesses are not starting in the UK, because they say that the burden of regulation is too high."
It didn’t take long for her to retract the comments, later arguing maternity pay is actually something which needs “no changing at all".
Badenoch has since claimed her comments were “misrepresented”.
Do her latest comments, and the way she has responded since, reflect a broader problem with her pitch to become the next leader of the Conservative Party?
And has the right wing candidate damaged her chances of winning the race?
This is what The News Agents discuss on today’s podcast.
What did she tell Emily?
When Emily caught her at the Conservative Party Conference and asked if the maternity pay row had been damaging, Badenoch denied there had been a row whatsoever.
“I don’t know what maternity row you’re talking about”, she told Emily.
Badenoch added: “I had given a statement and said that maternity pay is important. If people want to have a confected row, they are within their rights to do that.
“I am trying to have a serious conversation in this party about that existential crisis that faces us…We need to get serious, we need to be able to talk about things, we shouldn’t be worried about having disagreements and we also shouldn’t make stuff up.”
What was made up though?, Emily asks.
Badenoch did not answer that follow-up question.
What’s the News Agents take?
The matter has taken Jon by surprise.
“Who would have thought that maternity pay would be the issue on which Kemi Badenoch’s campaign really hit a bump in the road,” he says.
Emily argues this reflects the approach we have seen from Badenoch time and time again.
“Kemi Badenoch prides herself on being this straight talking woman shooting from the hip”, she says.
But as soon as she's interrogated, as soon as there are follow-up questions from the media, she backs off.
The pattern is the same across the board, whether it's on the issue of which culture should be allowed to immigrate, or whether it's on the question of maternity leave and what should be the right level.
“She has this paranoia about what she's just said, then does a bit of the Liz Truss thing and tries to turn on the media”, Emily adds.
So it is not the maternity row in itself that could be damaging to Badenoch, rather Emily argues it is her response to the ordeal which could come back to bite her.
“She’s flailing around and hitting out at everyone.”
Badenoch should be following through if she’s going to make statements like these, Emily says.
“Know that somebody is going to ask you what you mean, and be prepared to build a policy on it.”
Lewis agrees that Badenoch may be running into problems.
He says: “The problem with Badenoch that they're going to confront is, and her problem as a politician, is that she is potentially just too high risk, that she's just too combustible.”
Jon agrees that she has a willingness to “start the fight”, which is why he questions whether she is capable of becoming the next leader of the Conservative Party.
“She could start a fight in an empty room”, he says.
Listen in full on The News Agents.
