Kemi Badenoch has told shadow cabinet ministers that she wants a period of silence from Liz Truss, as the Conservative leader seeks to distance herself from her predecessor’s economic legacy. According to multiple sources, Badenoch expressed exasperation during a shadow cabinet meeting last week after Truss sent a 'cease and desist' letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer demanding he stop saying she crashed the economy.
One shadow cabinet minister described the letter as 'absurd' and said Badenoch had stated it would be best if Truss 'shut up for a while'. Another added that the thrust of her comments was that Truss should stop making unhelpful interventions. A spokesperson for Badenoch denied she used the phrase 'shut up', but did not dispute the main message.
Badenoch’s comments came as she tries to draw a line under the party’s recent political failures, including the disastrous mini-budget that led to Truss’s resignation. During PMQs, Starmer brandished Truss’s letter, saying: 'She was complaining that saying she had crashed the economy was damaging her reputation. It was actually crashing the economy that damaged her reputation.'
Some in the shadow cabinet are pushing Badenoch to explicitly reject Truss’s economic agenda, calling for a 'Krushchev moment' to denounce the philosophy behind the mini-budget. However, others caution against focusing on Truss, noting that the Conservatives are now more trusted than Labour on the economy: a YouGov poll shows 22% trust the Tories on the economy versus 16% for Labour.
Badenoch has promised to use this year to tackle the Tories’ legacy, acknowledging mistakes on immigration, Brexit, and net zero. The day after the shadow cabinet meeting, she gave a speech outlining these areas without directly criticising Truss, reflecting the delicate balance within the party.
