I can’t spend all my time worrying about regicide – Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch has said that she cannot “spend all my time worrying about regicide” as she claimed she does not notice people “trying to create harm”.
The Conservative leader said that the public are “not yet ready to forgive” the Tory party, more than a year on from the general election.
Speaking to the Financial Times in the week she reshuffled her top team, Mrs Badenoch played down the idea of threats to her leadership.
“I can’t spend all my time worrying about regicide (the act of killing a king), I would lose my mind,” she said.
She added: “I’m so thick-skinned to the point where I don’t even notice if people are trying to create harm.
“That’s extremely useful in this job.”
Vote of confidence
The New Statesman reported that many Tory MPs who backed Mrs Badenoch in the leadership contest have privately turned on her, and believe her core team of advisers are “lightweights and sycophants”.
Faltering Conservatives may seek to trigger a vote of confidence in their leader in November, once a grace period protecting her from such a move ends, the magazine said.
Asked about suggestions that Tory MPs were already plotting a coup, Mrs Badenoch told the PA news agency on Wednesday: “I would say that if nobody put their name to it, then I’m not paying any attention to it.”
Among the changes announced as part of Mrs Badenoch’s reshuffle this week was the return of Sir James Cleverly to the front bench as shadow housing secretary.
In his first full day in the job, Sir James accused the Prime Minister of being more interested in finding accommodation for asylum seekers than “hardworking young people”.
He said he was “furious” when the Prime Minister “blithely” said there are “plenty of houses” around the UK for asylum seekers.
Sir Keir Starmer insisted there was “lots of housing available” to accommodate rising numbers of homeless people and asylum seekers when he was questioned by senior MPs earlier this week.
Sir James told Times Radio: “I was furious, I genuinely couldn’t believe he said this, when the Prime Minister was at the Liaison Committee and blithely said, ‘Oh, there are plenty of houses around the UK for asylum seekers’.”
Sir James also said he understands the frustrations of local people when asked about demonstrations outside hotels believed to be housing asylum seekers.
Protests
There has been a series of protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, since an asylum seeker was charged with sexual assault.
His new role makes him the opposition counterpart to Angela Rayner in her housing, communities and local government brief, but not in her deputy prime minister post.
Ms Rayner said on Tuesday that immigration was among issues having a “profound impact on society” as she updated the Cabinet on her work on social cohesion.
Mrs Badenoch made a series of further changes to the junior ranks of her shadow cabinet on Wednesday, completing her reshuffle.
Among the appointments was the return of Stockton West MP Matt Vickers to the job of deputy chairman of the Tory party.
Mr Vickers was in the job for two years from summer 2022, but resigned last August to back Robert Jenrick in the leadership election.
He also retains his job as a shadow home office minister.
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Having a thick skin also means she does not see the role her government played in the damage to the UK, and that includes her as a Minster (inc deal that were never deals) and she has the cheek to stand there at PMQ’s and demand why Labour have not fixed it yet. She was part of the damage team. Blinkered politician at best.
Johnson’s successful partycide is her bigger problem.