Tag: Badenoch

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Badenoch accuses ‘those with influence’ of cowardice  

The comments by Badenoch, who is seen as a leadership favourite among Tory members, will be welcomed by some Conservative MPs to the right of the party…reports Asian Lite News

Cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch has accused “those in positions of influence” of “cowardice” in a row over approaches to gender care.

Launching a broadside against politicians, police, the media and the NHS, the Business Secretary called for an “in-depth review” into public bodies and their policies on trans issues.

In her first intervention since the publication of a landmark review into child gender services, Ms Badenoch suggested areas in the NHS had been “hijacked by ideologues”.

Writing in The Sunday Times, the equalities minister said: “In the case of trans ideology, those who first publicly questioned its tenets were subjected to hysterical abuse and calumny.”

She added: “Worse than the ravings of the militants was the cowardice of those in positions of influence. How many university administrators, media editors, police officers and politicians preferred to keep quiet for fear of becoming the next target or in the hope of maintaining their progressive credentials?”

She added: “Had those who warned that gender services in the NHS had been hijacked by ideologues been listened to instead of gagged, children would not have been harmed and the Cass review would not have been required.”

The comments by Badenoch, who is seen as a leadership favourite among Tory members, will be welcomed by some Conservative MPs to the right of the party.

But opponents who have criticised her previous rhetoric as an attack on transgender people are likely to view the intervention as a bid to reignite the so-called culture war.

The report by Dr Hilary Cass, first commissioned in 2020, concluded that gender care is currently an area of “remarkably weak evidence” and young people have been caught up in a “stormy social discourse”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the findings “shine a spotlight” on the need to “exercise extreme caution” when it comes to gender care for children.

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Badenoch downplays rumours of plot to replace PM

Badenoch was similarly dismissive of a series of reports over the weekend and on Monday that some Tory MPs were plotting to remove Sunak, with the party still trailing by up to 20 points behind Labour in opinion polling…reports Asian Lite News

Reports of Conservative plots against Rishi Sunak are the work of just “one or two” MPs and the party needs to unite before May’s local elections, Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, has said.

Speaking later at a business event, Sunak dismissed talk of a threat to his leadership, saying: “I’m not interested in all Westminster politics. It doesn’t matter. What matters is the future of our country.”

Badenoch, in a sometimes combative media round, also said the Tories did not need to return £10m in donations from Frank Hester, saying it was only the media that were still interested in his comments about Diane Abbott that have been widely condemned as racist and misogynist.

“I’m actually quite surprised that people suggest this,” she told LBC when asked if the party should refuse donations from Hester, after a report revealed he had told a 2019 meeting that seeing Abbott on TV made “you just want to hate all black women”.

“This was something that happened five years ago,” Badenoch said. “He wasn’t talking to Diane Abbott. It wasn’t even really about Diane Abbott. He used her in a reference that was completely unacceptable. He’s apologised for it.”

Hester had released a statement saying he “accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”. The statement said Hester abhorred racism, “not least because he experienced it as the child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s”.

As well as the confirmed £10m already handed over, Hester has reportedly offered the party a further £5m, which would mean his donations alone are worth almost as much as the Conservatives spent in the entire 2019 election campaign.

Badenoch was similarly dismissive of a series of reports over the weekend and on Monday that some Tory MPs were plotting to remove Sunak, with the party still trailing by up to 20 points behind Labour in opinion polling.

A series of stories suggested that Penny Mordaunt, the Commons leader, could be used as a figure around which rebels could coalesce, while one said Sunak would simply call an election if his position was challenged.

Badenoch told LBC: “I think it is actually very easy for one or two people out of 350 to talk to the papers and generate news headlines. Yes, of course, there will be some people who are unhappy. I’m not going to deny that, but we need to move away from the scenario where one or two people can create all the news and 300 others can’t get a word.

“At this particular time it’s really important that we remember there are thousands of councillors all around the country who are going to be standing for election in May. We need people to focus on what they’ve been doing to help their local communities, and not be obsessed with Westminster psychodrama.”

Sunak, speaking in a pooled TV clip after a speech to an apprenticeships event in Warwickshire, refused to engage on why the Conservatives could accept another £5m from Hester.

“He’s already apologised for these comments,” he said. “And my point of view is when someone apologises genuinely, expresses remorse, that should be accepted. And that’s that.”

After Hester’s comments emerged last week, Downing Street initially condemned them only as wrong, declining to say they were racist until more than 24 hours later – soon after Badenoch had become the first cabinet minister to say this.

Asked why she had done it, Badenoch told Sky that the issue was “particularly pertinent because it was about a black woman, [and] I’m the only black woman in the cabinet”.

When asked whether it was problematic for the Conservatives to accept such large donations from Hester – who also said Abbott, the UK’s longest-serving black MP, “should be shot” – Badenoch said she was “amazed” that she was still being asked about the issue, blaming the media for being out of touch.

“The only reason why it’s still dominating the front page is because you are not interested in the work that government is doing,” she told BBC One’s Breakfast programme.

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FTA with India won’t be ‘free-for-all deal’, says Badenoch

Using patent protection as an example, the minister pointed out that the UK needs to remember that India has different needs from other countries…reports Asian Lite News

The free trade agreement (FTA) being negotiated with India won’t be a “free for all deal” but something that is good for both countries and not a particular sector, the UK government cautioned on Tuesday as a Diwali deadline set at the prime ministerial level for the pact approaches.

Secretary of State for International Trade Kemi Badenoch, who is in charge of the FTA negotiations under the Prime Liz Truss led government, was addressing concerns around access for the country’s services sector into the Indian market at the Conservative Party annual conference in Birmingham.

The senior Cabinet minister also indicated that the Diwali timeline set by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was not “arbitrary” and could be met with further aspects covered beyond that deadline.

“We want something comprehensive, but it has to be right for both countries,” said Badenoch.

“The Prime Minister has a deadline, which the previous Prime Minister had. That was quite a long deadline, so it’s not arbitrary, it wasn’t set last week. But doing a trade deal is not a simple and easy thing. So, what we want to do is something that lifts both countries. It may not be everything the services sector wants, we may not get everything, we are not doing a unilateral, free-for-all deal,” she said.

“But just because we have a free trade agreement, doesn’t mean we can’t do even more later,” she added. Diwali falls on October 24 this year.

The minister, who is leading the final round of India-UK FTA negotiations on the British side, pointed out that the intention is to reduce barriers to trade bilaterally and balancing each side’s different requirements on product and market access.

“What we shouldn’t pretend is that we are doing a full universal liberalisation of every single thing that can possibly be done and create a single market and freedom of movement etc with India. That’s not what we are doing with every single trade deal, there is give and take,” she said.

“We talk about free trade agreement, but they are not universal, unilateral free trade. I think freer trade is probably a more accurate way of describing what we are doing on all these bilateral deals. I am optimistic that we will get a good deal. But sometimes there are lots of political things that need to be looked at in the round,” she noted.

Badenoch, who was participating in a panel discussion organised at the party conference by the Policy Exchange think tank entitled Trade and the Indo-Pacific, has been in charge at the UK’s Department of International Trade (DIT) since early last month and says she is keen to shift the discussion beyond trade deals to wider cooperation.

“I am not in a rush to sign trade deals. I want good deals with these countries. We need to make sure that every deal is great for the UK,” she said.

Using patent protection as an example, the minister pointed out that the UK needs to remember that India has different needs from other countries.

Aileen Keyes, Head of International Public Policy for Diageo, on the panel flagged lowering India’s 150 per cent tariffs on Scotch whisky as among the priority areas that would be a “real win-win” for both sides.

“It is something we will get from having a great deal with India,” Badenoch agreed.

She also agreed with Indian-origin entrepreneur, Lord Karan Bilimoria, that a comprehensive deal with India should cover security cooperation.

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said last month that negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement between India and the UK are progressing at a faster pace. The agreement is aimed at boosting bilateral trade and investments between the two countries.

India and the UK trade mostly in services which accounts for about 70 per cent of the overall trade. Both countries also aim to increase their bilateral trade to USD 100 billion by the end of this decade.

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