KEMI Badenoch has refused to take part in a BBC Question Time special framed as a debate on the Tory leadership contest.
Badenoch, who is facing Robert Jenrick in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as the Leader of the Opposition and is seen as the favourite, would not accept conditions offered by the broadcaster, according to BBC political editor Chris Mason.
It comes after Jenrick wrote to the BBC, GB News, ITV, and Sky asking them to host a debate between him and Badenoch.
GB News did so, with a two-hour broadcast on Thursday evening. However, the two did not directly engage but instead took turns answering questions from the audience.
The BBC said that it would host a Question Time special debate between the pair, with the audience consisting of 50% paid-up Tory members.
The other half of the audience would have been a mix of people who have voted Conservative in the past or may do so again, according to Mason.
However, Badenoch refused to take part under those conditions, which Jenrick accepted.
The Tory Party had also said it wanted an audience made up exclusively of its members, a condition the BBC did not accept, but admitted that if both candidates agreed to take part it could not stop them from doing so.
The pair are the only two left in the race for the Tory leadership after James Cleverly was knocked out in a shock result after the final round of MPs’ votes.
Cleverly was seen as the more moderate option against two hard-right figures, and his exit seems to have largely sealed the Tory Party’s future direction.
- Badenoch claim “no-one has done more for Brexit than I did” as she defended her record as business secretary and took a veiled swipe at rival Jenrick, who supporting remaining in the EU in 2016 and has since moved to the right of the Tory Party.
- Jenrick say he would cap migration in “the tens of thousands or lower” if he were in charge.
- Badenoch say the UK should not be embarrassed by its colonial past, social media is “for adults” and not children, and that she likes both US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris “equally”.
- Jenrick claim the Government had relinquished sovereignty of the Chagos Islands “so that David Lammy can feel better when he goes to a dinner party in north London” and said the former Tory government in which he served “shouldn’t have” started negotiations over the territory.
- Badenoch claim the Tory Party had offered “all policy and no principles, that is why I keep emphasising principles” as she said Nigel Farage speaks with “clarity” and “conviction”, and vowed to deliver “conviction politics” for members.
- Badenoch claim that the phrase “culture wars” was being used as a “dog-whistle to try and attack the right”, who she said were “defending our culture”.
- Pressed on reports that she is difficult to work with, Ms Badenoch claim she “defends other people from bullies”, but attacked former colleagues for having “run to the Guardian newspaper to tell lies”.
A straw poll of the GB News audience suggested Badenoch remained the clear favourite to succeed Sunak, with many members cheering and applauding when her name was called.
Tory members are voting in the coming days for their new party leader, who is due to be announced on November 2.
