Kemi Badenoch promises to tell 'hard truths' as new Tory leader sets out stall in first interview
The new Conservative leader says the UK is getting poorer and older, and is being "outcompeted" by other countries.
Kemi Badenoch said she will tell "hard truths" to both the country and her party as she began her first full day as Conservative leader.
In her first interview since winning the Tory leadership election, Badenoch said the UK is getting poorer and older, and is being "outcompeted" by other countries.
She told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: "We need to look at how we can reorganise our economy to be fit for the future, not just doing what we always used to.
"Simply just saying things and making promises to the whole country without knowing how you're going to deliver them, as we did on Brexit, as we did on net zero, I don't think is building trust."
Here are five other takeaways from Badenoch's interview.
New leader would reverse private school VAT
Badenoch's leadership campaign was accused of being light on policy. But she said she would reverse Labour's decision to impose VAT on private school fees if she eventually becomes prime minister.
"The bottom line is that [it] is a tax on aspiration. Taxing education is wrong, it is against our principles, so yes: that is the sort of thing that I can very easily say 'we would not do that'."
The government said the 20% VAT, to be imposed from January, will be used to fund the "highest quality of support and teaching" in state schools, which 94% of children attend.
Badenoch was also asked if she would reverse Rachel Reeves' increase to employer national insurance contributions, and by implication take money away from NHS.
But she refused to commit and only said it was "not a binary suggestion". She said she would instead focus on "the argument about why we think what they're doing is wrong".
Pressed on whether the Tories will oppose the measure at a vote, she said: "Every opposition votes against every budget. Voting against the budget is neither here nor there."
Badenoch plays down 'milestone'
Badenoch became the first Black woman to lead a major European political party as she was named Tory leader on Saturday.
While Tory 1922 Committee chairman Bob Blackman hailed her election as "another glass ceiling shattered", Badenoch herself made no mention of her race or gender in her victory speech.
And asked by Kuenssberg if she considered it a "milestone", she said: "I think the best thing will be when we get to a point where the colour of your skin is no more remarkable than the colour of your eyes or hair.
"When I hear people say 'isn't this remarkable, we have a Black female leader of the Conservative Party', I am glad because it shows my country and my party are at places where it doesn't matter who you are [or] what you look like, it's about what the offer is.
"What I don't want is for that to be the thing that ends up being talked about."
'It's not important to be liked as party leader'
Badenoch said she doesn’t think it is important to be liked in order to win the next general election.
She said: "I think it is important people respect and understand what it is a leader is trying to do. It is not about me, it is about what I am offering to the country.
"Of course everybody wants to be liked, I don't want to be hated... but I am not doing this because I want to win a popularity contest. I am doing this because I worry about my country and I worry about what the future has for the next generation."
YouGov polling from earlier this week found only one in eight Britons - 12% - have a favourable opinion of Badenoch. Some 45% have an unfavourable view of her and 43% don't know.
By comparison, 29% have a favourable opinion of Sir Keir Starmer, with 63% unfavourable and 9% saying they don't know.
No rebrand away from 'Tories'
Badenoch suggested she has no issue with the party being known, or referring to itself, as the "Tories".
It comes after election guru Sir Lynton Crosby said: “They ought to call themselves Conservatives and not abbreviate it to Tories. I think 'Tory' has become a pejorative term."
Asked about his comments, she said: "The Conservative Party is the most successful political party in the history of western democracy. It is not for me about changing the brand, it is about reminding people what the brand is about."
Badenoch also dismissed Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who labelled her as "more of the same".
She said his electoral success was a "symptom of the Conservative Party not being clear enough and consistent enough about our values".
Partygate was 'overblown'
Partygate - in which senior government figures held gatherings that broke COVID rules - was the first of a number of scandals that brought down Boris Johnson's government.
But Badenoch said the controversy was "overblown".
She said the public wasn't "wrong" to be upset about it, but added: "The problem was we should not have criminalised everyday activities the way we did.
"People going out for walks, all of them having fixed penalty notices: that was what ended up creating a trap for Boris Johnson."
Johnson became the first PM to receive a criminal penalty while in office after he, his wife and then-chancellor Rishi Sunak received £50 fixed penalty notices for attending a gathering marking Johnson's 56th birthday in June 2020.
An investigation by former senior civil servant Sue Gray said Johnson and Sunak were not aware of the event in advance, but that "those attending consumed food and drink, and some drank alcohol".
In his recent memoir, Johnson dismissed the event, saying: "If this was a party, it was the feeblest event in the history of human festivity."
