Badenoch says UK civil servants should be ‘in prison’

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Kemi Badenoch has suggested that a large number of UK civil servants deserve to be in prison, in her latest controversial comments as she seeks to win the leadership of the Conservative party. 

Badenoch, former business secretary, told an event at the Tory conference on Tuesday that she had experienced many “bad” officials during her time as a minister.

“There’s about 5 to 10 per cent of them who are very, very bad — you know, should be in prison bad — leaking official secrets, undermining their ministers, agitating,” she said.

Her comments — which come days after she criticised Britain’s maternity pay as “excessive” — came hours after the race’s frontrunner Robert Jenrick was forced to defend claims that Britain’s special forces are “killing rather than capturing terrorists”.

The former communities secretary on Tuesday refused to row back on the allegation he made in a campaign video this week, as he was criticised by rival leadership contenders.

In the video Jenrick said the UK’s “special forces are killing rather than capturing terrorists, because our lawyers tell us that if they’re caught, the European court will set them free”.

The remarks elicited a furious reaction in military circles, while Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director-general at the Royal United Services Institute, told Times Radio it was a “very dangerous” claim that “could put our forces at risk”. 

Jenrick and Badenoch’s remarks, and their resulting backlash, have injected fresh drama into the race to succeed Rishi Sunak as Tory leader.

Badenoch had been favourite at the start of the contest, but Jenrick — historically a centrist who has tacked to the right — has come first during the two rounds of voting by Tory MPs so far.

The four-day gathering has become a de facto leadership conference, with the four contenders — including Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly — setting out their pitch following the party’s worst-ever election defeat. Tory MPs will eliminate two candidates next week, with party members voting for an overall winner by November 2.

On Tuesday, Tugendhat and Cleverly — both of whom previously served in the army — condemned Jenrick’s comments about UK special forces. 

Tugendhat suggested at a fringe event that Jenrick knows “nothing about” sensitive military matters, after earlier telling Sky News that his remarks were “wrong” and showed a “misunderstanding of military operations and the law of armed conflict”.

Cleverly said that the UK military abided by international law and the rules of armed conflict, adding they “do not murder people”. 

Jenrick declined to back down, however, insisting during an hour-long question and answer session on the main stage that he had been referring to remarks made by former Tory defence secretary Ben Wallace. 

He added: “I don’t want our human rights apparatus to be standing in the way of taking the right operational decisions for our national security and for protecting the lives of the brave men and women who serve in our special forces.”

Elsewhere in his session he declared mass migration had left Britain “less united” and argued that previous Tory ministers increasing the number of inward arrivals after Brexit was “disgraceful”.

The former immigration minister criticised “the appearance of two-tier policing” in the UK, and heaped doubt on the BBC’s funding model.

He also said he would “like to” cut the 45p top rate of income tax, but said he would not commit to fiscal policy during the contest. 

Declaring himself “sad” that the Tories put the nation on the track to a record high tax burden, he said the party must return to being a “low tax and pro growth” party. 

In the wake of the donations row engulfing the Labour government, Jenrick vowed he would not take freebies — in contrast to Cleverly, who on Monday had defended taking some clothing donations in the past during a fringe event.

In his own question session Cleverly, promised to appoint a shadow cabinet from across the spectrum of the Conservative benches if he becomes leader.

He said he had not started his leadership bid before July’s catastrophic election defeat — unlike some rivals — but was confident of making it through to the final two candidates to be leader of the opposition.

In a dig at Jenrick, who backed Remain in 2016, Cleverly said he had always been a Eurosceptic. “It is now very fashionable to be a Brexiteer but I was doing it before it was cool.”

Cleverly played up his friendship with former prime minister Boris Johnson, pointing out that he was party chair when the UK finally left the EU. 

He said he would axe VAT on private schools — a Labour measure that comes into force next year — as well as abolish stamp duty, keep issuing licences for North Sea oil drilling, maintain support for Ukraine and consider a subscription model for the BBC.

Tugendhat and Badenoch took part in similar session on Monday.

The four contenders will close the conference on Wednesday with back-to-back speeches, 20 minutes long each, in a bid to woo both MPs and members.