Badenoch says Partygate row overblown and makes first senior appointment as leader

The shadow culture secretary said new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch would take a “very rounded approach” to tackling immigration.

Asked if Ms Badenoch would not support any of the immigration policies argued by her leadership rival Robert Jenrick, including withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Julia Lopez told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Philips: “I think what happened in the leadership election was that we started talking about these things as if leaving the ECHR was an end in itself, and that’s not the end that we were seeking.

“We are seeking lower immigration overall, and Kemi wants to take a very rounded approach to taking that immigration level down. That means looking at every aspect of the challenge. Leaving the ECHR may end up being one of those policy prescriptions.

“Visas may end up being one of those policy prescriptions, but what she doesn’t want to do is to start writing a manifesto at this stage of the Parliament before we know what we are likely to be taking on at the next general election.”

Pressed on whether leaving the ECHR was still on the table, Ms Lopez added: “She said that if that’s what is required, that is what she will do.”

Newly elected Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has been condemned over an unearthed image that shows her making a joke about rape on her personal Facebook page.

The former women and equalities minister has been criticised by anti-domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid, which said it was appalled by the image.

In a post on her own page dated from January 2008, which was still visible on her profile as recently as this week, Ms Badenoch shared an image of three men with the caption: “The Drummond beer rape incident.”

Political Correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Rebecca Harris has been appointed Conservative chief whip, according to her predecessor Stuart Andrew.

In a post on X, Mr Andrew said: “It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as the Conservative Party chief whip.

“Rebecca Harris is a great friend and a brilliant whip. I wish her all the best in the role.”

The MP for Castle Point in Essex has been a Conservative whip since 2018.

There has been no official announcement from the party, with further appointments expected before Tuesday.

A non-recent allegation of sexual assault made against Alex Salmond has been received by police.

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The shadow culture secretary dismissed suggestions Kemi Badenoch had an “abrasive” character, saying people “want to see politicians who are straight talking”.

Put to her that Ms Badenoch might need “a personality transplant” as new Tory leader with some colleagues saying she is “rude”, and asked whether she was going to be “nice” to people, Julia Lopez told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Philips: “We’re in a situation now where Kemi secured the most MP votes, Kemi also secured the most votes among the membership.

“People want to see politicians who are straight talking. She speaks with clarity, she speaks with truth.

“She’s already had a discussion in a different media outlet about how she might start to change some of the ways in which she deals with people, if that’s necessary, but I don’t know it’s necessary right now.”

Rachel Reeves is refusing to back down in the face of criticism over her government’s increase to employer national insurance contributions.

The chancellor also said she did not consider or discuss raising the rise before the general election.

Asked if she will think again about increasing employer national insurance contributions amid concerns from GPs, care homes and charities, Ms Reeves told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “I’m not immune to their criticism.

“But we’ve got to raise the money, we’ve got to put our public finances on a firm footing.”

Asked if she considered or discussed raising employer national insurance contributions before Labour’s election win, Ms Reeves replied: “No, this was not something that was on the agenda before the election.”

The Chancellor said the previous Tory government cut employee national insurance contributions on a “false premise” but she thought it would be “wrong” to put that back up.

She said: “It would have been felt immediately in the payslips of working people rather than asking businesses to contribute, and second it would have been a direct breach of our manifesto commitment. So we had to make difficult choices but leadership is about difficult choices.”

A Labour MP has said she faces “extreme” abuse including racism almost every day.

Satvir Kaur has been in public office since 2011 and said the abuse has escalated since she was elected MP for Southampton Test in July.

She was the first female Sikh leader of a local authority in Britain when she headed Southampton City Council from 2022 to 2023.

It was put to Ms Kaur on BBC Radio Solent that women in politics receive a lot of abuse, and she said: “It’s been extreme, it’s kind of more than I thought.

“You always get it when you’re kind of in the public eye and being a politician – suddenly somehow you become sub-human when all you’re really trying to do is make a positive difference to people’s lives.

“So I got it to a certain extent when I was a councillor and leader of the council, but I feel as though, since I’ve become an MP – especially online – I feel as though I’ve attracted all of the misogynists, all of the racists, and all of the haters out there.”

She added that she receives racist abuse “constantly, almost on an daily basis”.

“Actually it just encourages me more to do what I’m doing, because I want other people from areas of deprivation, and brown girls, to feel that, if I can do it, they can do it,” she said.

The MP said she tries to ignore the vitriol and blocks abusive comments on her social media, but she does occasionally “bite”.

“I don’t want to spread hate, and there’s enough hate out there,” she told BBC Radio Solent presenter Louisa Hannan.

The thing to understand about Kemi Badenoch is that, for all her manifest shortcomings, she is not stupid. Over the last few months, the incoming leader of the Conservative Party has given every indication that she, and those near to her, have given her future strategy some serious thought.

The question to which “Kemi” is the correct answer is: “How do we unite a shattered, electorally thrashed, ideologically obsessed party addicted to plotting?”

Without overdoing the analogies too much, the Kemi answer is the template provided by Margaret Thatcher in opposition, from 1975 to 1979.