Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said Donald Trump deserved to be thrashed in the US mid-term elections, describing the result as "entirely self-inflicted" and criticising his record on tariffs, the Iran war and his treatment of allies.
In an interview with Independent editor in chief Geordie Greig for The Talk Show, Mrs Badenoch said: "Voters want results." She argued the US president "doesn't meet the standards a politician at that level, a statesman, should meet" in the way he talks about people and "always wanting to get dirty in terms of insults".
Criticism of Trump's record
Mrs Badenoch also branded Mr Trump's treatment of Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House "awful". She said she would have been content if Democratic nominee Kamala Harris had won in 2024, adding: "I like them both equally. Make of that what you will."
She questioned Mr Trump's priorities after his election win, saying: "He came in with this extraordinary coalition, Latinos, he had more black voters than any other Republican, and what's the first thing that he does? Tariffs and then talking about Greenland and Canada and I think a lot of people were wondering, 'what are you doing? Tariffs are bad for the cost of living, they're not good, then you have a war in Iran, which, I understand the justification, Iran is an enemy of this country, we don't want them getting nuclear weapons, but where's the plan?'"
Asked if he deserved to be thrashed, she said: "Well, yeah. He has not been acting in the way that I would consider conservative. Where is the push for free markets and better trade and more enforcement of trade rules, rather than protectionism, America first, the squabbling with allies? That's not what conservatives do."
Attacks on former Tory leaders
Mrs Badenoch also criticised former UK prime ministers in the previous Tory governments. While refusing to "name and blame" the Conservative Party's former leaders, she said they were guilty of "gimmicks, mistakes and short-termism", adding: "Everyone makes mistakes. Obviously, the leaders were responsible for most of them. Immigration was too high."
On Liz Truss's mini-budget, she said: "You can't just announce £150 billion bailing out people's energy bills and £45 billion of tax cuts with no spending cuts at all. Those are the wrong way of doing things."
Farage and Reform UK
On Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, she insisted that his explanation of the £5 million crypto donation "doesn't add up". She said: "One of the things going wrong for him was that he pretended to be this everyman. A lot of his supporters… don't understand how he's getting £5 million and they're not able to pay their energy bills. His story doesn't add up."
The Tory leader was adamant she would never serve in a government with Mr Farage as prime minister, saying: "No, because he would not be good for this country. I simply wouldn't." She dismissed some of Reform's ideas, such as a recent proposal to nationalise Poundland as "bonkers", but claimed Mr Farage did her a favour with the defection of Robert Jenrick, which she said was like defusing an "unexploded bomb".
Views on Burnham and racism
On Prime Minister Andy Burnham, she said he is more "fun" than Sir Keir Starmer, but that this "makes him more dangerous because he wants to please everybody". Branding Mr Burnham a "foot in mouth" politician, she said: "He says things first and then thinks about it later."
Declining to apologise for calling Bridget Phillipson "spiteful" over VAT on private school fees, she said: "Spiteful. What's wrong with that?" She added: "She hurt many, many children. They had to leave their schools, which closed down. It was class war. So yes, I will call it like it is."
Mrs Badenoch also said she has "never" experienced racism in Britain. She told The Talk Show: "Never. That is the honest truth. It's one of the reasons I say that this is an amazing country. This is not a racist country. Of course there are racists. There have been people who have said and done things which I would've thought, yes, this is prejudice. But my definition of racism is people who would deliberately disadvantage you because of your race, not somebody making an off-colour joke."
