KEMI Badenoch, former UK equalities minister and current Tory MP has announced she is running for Prime Minister, while Tory MP Steve Baker has announced he is dropping his own bid.
In an op-ed for The Times, Badenoch stated that “people are exhausted by platitudes and empty rhetoric”. She continued to state that she would be arguing for a “strong but limited government”, “lower taxes”, and “tight spending discipline”.
She also accused those who critique the UK as being “oppressive to minorities” and “immoral” due to UK immigration policy of perpetuating “zero sum identity politics” and threatening the “cohesive nation state”.
She argued that this was the opposite of so-called “British values”.
It was revealed that former equalities minister Badenoch went on a tirade in 2018 criticising the push for LGBT equality in leaked audio obtained by VICE World News.
In the audio, she said: “OK well we’ve got gay marriage, and civil partnerships, so what are transsexuals looking for?”
The term “transsexual” is considered offensive to many trans people.
She continued in her tirade to falsely imply that transgender women are men, stating: “Right so now it’s not just about being free to marry who you want, you now want to have men using women’s bathrooms.”
Badenoch’s voting record reveals that she has never voted on equal gay rights, and has never voted on allowing same sex marriage, remaining absent for both votes.
Meanwhile, Brexiteer Steve Baker has dropped his own leadership bid. He stated on Friday July 8 that while he “considered” standing for leadership, that he will now be endorsing his colleague Suella Braverman’s bid for PM.
In a statement endorsing Braverman to The Telegraph, he stated: “We only have Brexit today because of what we did then. It wouldn’t have happened without her”.
Braverman has stated that she is “proud” of the British Empire in a recent interview with The Telegaph, stating that it was a “force for good”.
She attributed the “awful things” that happened under Empire to the “time period” and “cultural norms”, while bizarrely divorcing these from the Empire itself.
She accused critics of Empire as being “ashamed of our history” and “fearful of our past”.
In a speech outside Number 10, Johnson confirmed his intention to step down as Prime Minister after more than 50 ministers and aides resigned under his leadership. He intends to stay in post until autumn.
