UK politics live: Kemi Badenoch insists she believes in maternity pay as Tory rivals jump on ‘excessive’ claim
Badenoch suggests current maternity leave pay may be too generous at the Conservative Party conference
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Kemi Badenoch has sparked controversy after describing maternity pay as “excessive” and calling for greater personal responsibility.
In an interview with Times Radio, the Tory leadership hopeful argued that government intervention on issues like the maternity benefit had gone “too far”, placing a burden on businesses.
Ms Badenoch’s remarks have drawn fierce criticism, with union bosses and campaigners condemning them as “out of touch” and “another example of dog-whistle politics”.
Reacting to the comments, rival candidate Tom Tugendhat said he did not know the context of Ms Badenoch’s claims but that it is important for women to have the ability to choose, while Robert Jenrick said the party should be “firmly on the side of parents and working mums”.
It comes after the shadow secretary defended her claim that there has been a recent rise in the number of migrants coming to the UK who “hate Israel”.
She said in a newspaper op-ed on Sunday that migrants’ “feet may be in the UK, but their heads and hearts are still back in their country of origin.” But when she was asked on Sky News if she was referring to Muslim immigrants, Ms Badenoch disagreed.
The Independent’s political team will be reporting live throughout the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
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McFadden responds to Duffield: ‘She’s been disillusioned for a long time'
Labour cabinet minister Pat McFadden has addressed Rosie Duffield’s recent criticisms.
Acknowledging her long-sanding disillusionment with the party and its leader, he told the BBC: “It’s not something that’s developed in the last few months.”
On the controversy surrounding donations accepted by Labour members, McFadden defended them as standard contributions, adding that “presentation” is part of any campaign.
He also dismissed any notion of “give x to get y,” and highlighted Lord Alli as a “long-term” Labour supporter.
Watch: Badenoch praises Israel as ‘extraordinary’ following Hezbollah leader wipeout
Kemi Badenoch praises Israel as ‘extraordinary’ following Hezbollah leader wipeout
Tory leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch has praised Israel and Netanyahu as “extraordinary” following an airstrike confirmed to have killed Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. “I would be congratulating prime minister Netanyahu”, Badenoch told Sky’s Trevor Phillips from the Tory Party Conference. When quizzed on whether moral lines had been crossed to reached Hezbollah’s leader, she added: “It’s not about a free pass, but Israel does have a right to defend itself.” The MP added that immigrants who see Israel as “an enemy” are not welcome in the UK.
Duffield: The lads are in charge
Rosie Duffield has accused Sir Keir Starmer of having a problem with women.
She told the BBC that many women backbenchers she’s friends with refer to the “young men that surround him [Starmer] as ‘the lads’ and it’s clear that the lads are now in charge”.
Ms Duffield added: “They’re the same lads that were there briefing against me in the papers. I was really hoping for better, but it wasn’t to be.”
Rosie Duffield: Starmer can afford his own clothes
Following her resignation letter attacking the prime minister, the Canterbury MP has hit out at Keir Starmer for accepting gifts from donors while axing the winter fuel payment for pensioners.
Ms Duffield told the BBC: “I’m ashamed of the fact that we stood up and condemned the last few years of Tory sleaze and all of the things that brought politics into disrepute and here we are and it’s daily revelations of hypocrisy and grubby presents. I can’t believe what I’m reading every single day.”
She added: “It’s greed. Why else would someone on so much more money than most people take free gifts? Why?
“He can absolutely afford his own clothes, we all can and I’ve seen journalists asking him and he hasn’t answered, he hasn’t explained.”
‘I’m not an uncritical friend of Israel,’ Jenrick insists
The final Tory leadership candidate to speack with Trevor Phillips has also addressed the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
While is Jenrick considered one of the strongest supporters of Israel among the candidates, he insisted that he is “not an uncritical friend” of Israel.
He told Sky News that it is right to stand by the “only democracy in the Middle East”, but it must be done in “sensible steps” to reduce the loss of life.
Badenoch attacks migrants ‘living in their little bubbles'
The former minister has now turned her attack towards the “lack of integration” claiming it is a “recipe for disaster”.
Ms Badenoch said: “People who come here should want to live in Britain, they want to love the country.
“They should want to contribute and wanted to succeed. We are not a dormitory. This is our home. People from all around the world just living here in their little bubbles and little groups is a recipe for disaster.
“I have seen it. I told you. I grew up in a country with 300 ethnic groups. This is a recipe for conflict, and the government needs to work hard on integration. You can’t just sit back and say, well, as long as you get a good job and don’t commit crimes, that’s fine.”
Badenoch grilled over ‘immigrants who hate Israel’ claim
The Tory hopeful has been pressed over her comments about “immigrants who hate Israel” on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
The shadow business secretary said: “I know what you’re trying to do. Laura, you want me to say Muslims, but it isn’t all Muslims. So I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to play this game.
“I should be able to say that I have made an observation without you trying to portray it as me attacking a particular group.”
She added: “I talked about people ripping down posters. We saw who was doing it. We read about cases.”
Badenoch: People bringing views to UK that aren’t welcome
Kemi Badenoch has doubled down on her attack towards migrants, claiming that many people coming to the UK have brought views that “have no place here”.
She told the BBC: “I actually think it’s extraordinary that people think that’s an unusual or controversial thing to say, of course, not all cultures very flat. I don’t believe in cultural relativism.
“I believe in western values, the principles which have made this country great. And I think that we need to make sure that we continue to abide by those principles to keep the society that we have now.”
The Tory contender said during her time as an equalities minister she say people bringing cultural disputes from India “to the streets of Leicester”.
Citing her time on the election trail, Ms Badenoch said: “You’d knock on doors and you see somebody at the door who says ‘I can’t speak to you, I will get my husband’.”
Badenoch pressed on claim ‘not all cultures are equal'
Kemi Badenoch is now next on the BBC, the Tory contender has been asked about her comments on the Sunday Telegraph.
She wrote that “not all cultures are equal” and some are “less valid”.
Pressed on which cultures she referred to, Ms Badenoch said those that believe in child marriage, or think women have less rights.
Home Office is ‘in ashes’, Robert Jenrick says
Asked about his ministerial record, Robert Jenrick has claimed the Home Office was “in ashes” when he first entered.
He told the BBC: “I worked relentlessly on legal migration to secure the biggest change to that system in my lifetime.
“It will ensure that the number of people coming into our country legally goes down by around 300,000 and you can already see that flowing into the numbers.
“And on illegal migration, I was the only minister who reduced the number of people coming across on small boats and I got the number of deportations in this country up by 80 per cent in a year.”
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