Tag Archives: Kemi Badenoch

Mark Valladares

1 September 2025 – yesterday’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 2nd September 2025 - 10:04 pm
  • Lib Dems write to Badenoch telling her to “come clean” on allegations of made-up academic record
  • Kemi Badenoch visit is a timely reminder for Scottish Conservatives to jump ship
  • Landslides continue to block A83 in Argyll because of years of SNP dithering
  • Greene: No end to ferry nightmare amid fresh delay

Lib Dems write to Badenoch telling her to “come clean” on allegations of made-up academic record

The Liberal Democrats have written to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, calling on her to come clean over doubts reported in the Guardian over her claim that she was offered a place at the US University Stanford when she was just 16.

Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Munira Wilson has now written to Badenoch calling on her to “come clean” and give the full story behind these allegations. In her letter, Munira Wilson noted that when commenting on allegations surrounding the Chancellor’s CV Badenoch said that “restoring trust in politics is the great test of our era” and asked that Rachel Reeves “comes clean”.

She said that if Badenoch refused to do so she would “devalue the work” of all those who received their A-levels and GCSEs in the past few weeks.

Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson, Munira Wilson MP said:

After the endless comments she made over Rachel Reeves’ CV, if these allegations prove to be true she will have set a new world record for hypocrisy.

If Kemi Badenoch cares about restoring trust she should start by explaining her own academic record.

Failing to come clean over these allegations would send a message to the thousands of pupils who just received their exam results that their hard work does not matter and that you can just bluff your way to the top.

Kemi Badenoch visit is a timely reminder for Scottish Conservatives to jump ship

Responding to Kemi Badenoch’s visit to Scotland, Liberal Democrat MSP Jamie Greene, who defected from the Conservatives earlier this year, said:

I know that many Conservatives are completely sickened by how desperately low their party has fallen with their climate change denial, stoking up community grievances and ripping up any decency they had left.

Kemi Badenoch’s visit might just be a timely reminder to them that jumping ship, as I did, is the only way out of the sorry mess the Tories have become in Scotland.

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Mark Valladares

26 June 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 26th June 2025 - 10:30 pm
  • Davey calls on Government to pull Welfare Bill before vote as “PM’s own backbenchers” can see the damage carers face
  • “Bungling Badenoch” urgently needs to clarify Conservative position on PM attending major summits after Pritchard criticism
  • Married couple Yi-pei Chou Turvey and Michael Turvey top North East list
  • Wendy Chamberlain MP and People’s Postcode Lottery respond to Government not lifting Charity Lottery Cap
  • Cole-Hamilton: Cancer patients deserve better than SNP failures

Davey calls on Government to pull Welfare Bill before vote as “PM’s own backbenchers” can see the damage carers face

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called on the Government to pull their controversial welfare reforms before a vote next week saying that “even the Prime Minister’s own backbenchers” can see the damage these reforms could do to unpaid family carers and those they look after.

Davey made the call as the Liberal Democrats have tabled their own Reasoned Amendment aimed at killing the Bill. It highlights the plight of unpaid family carers as a result of these cuts and instead urges the Government to fix the crisis in the NHS and social care, to get people off waiting lists and back into work to get the welfare bill down.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

The Government needs to pull this Bill and go back to the drawing board. Even the Prime Minister’s own backbenchers can see the damage these cuts will do by leaving some of the most vulnerable without support and putting thousands of unpaid carers in impossible situations.

The Conservatives made a complete mess of our welfare system, but the way to bring the benefits bill down is not through cutting support for disabled people and those who care for them. It is by tackling the crisis in our NHS and social care, to get millions of people off waiting lists and back to work.

Family carers do tremendous work in often the most challenging of circumstances, taking huge pressures off our health services and helping loved ones. Taking support away from our nation’s carers is the worst kind of false economy.

I hope the Prime Minister listens and pulls this Bill instead of cutting vital support from thousands of vulnerable people.

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Mark Valladares

15 May 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 15th May 2025 - 10:55 pm
  • Lib Dems say shocking hospital wait stats should “shake us to our core”
  • GDP: Govt must now use UK-EU summit to boost growth
  • Sneaky Kemi needs to “take head out of the sand” on EU
  • Lib Dems move to quash sell-out law allowing foreign stakes in UK newspapers
  • Cole-Hamilton to First Minister: SNP have failed social care and NHS

Lib Dems say shocking hospital wait stats should “shake us to our core”

Responding to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimating that there were more than 16,600 deaths of patients linked to long waits in A&E for hospital beds last year, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:

These figures should shake us to our core. People are dying needlessly in corridors and glorified cupboards as staff are stretched to breaking point, working in conditions that resembling the stuff on nightmares.

This is where we must draw a line in the sand. The Conservatives led us to this point – an NHS on its knees and countless preventable deaths – but it is up to this Government to make sure that this never happens again.

The Health Secretary must step up, free up much-needed hospital beds by overhauling social care as he has pledged to do and back our campaign to end corridor care by the end of this Parliament. That is what the public deserves.

GDP: Govt must now use UK-EU summit to boost growth

Responding to GDP growth of 0.2% for March and 0.7% over Q1 of 2025, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

This is positive news for the economy but this is no time for complacency.

These figures are from before the Chancellor’s jobs tax came into force and Trump’s trade war began.

The government needs to use the UK-EU summit on Monday to boost businesses and cut red tape, including by immediately starting talks on a bespoke customs union.

Sneaky Kemi needs to “take head out of the sand” on EU

Following Kemi Badenoch’s speech to the International Democracy Union, James MacCleary MP, Liberal Democrat Europe Spokesperson, said:

Kemi sneaking off to Brussels to talk down Britain: I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. It’s a well-rehearsed act.

She’s wrong on Europe: standing stronger together with our EU allies makes us stronger at home, not weaker.

It’s time for Badenoch to take her head out of the sand and wake up to the huge potential for growth that a proper deal with the EU could unlock.

Lib Dems move to quash sell-out law allowing foreign stakes in UK newspapers

Following the revelation that the Labour Government will legislate to allow foreign states to own up to 15% of British newspapers, the Liberal Democrats will move to dismantle the new rules via a Fatal Motion – a rare parliamentary device that would permanently halt the law’s progression.

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Mark Valladares

16 January 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 16th January 2025 - 11:30 pm
  • GDP Figures: Government must see sense and scrap jobs tax
  • Liberal Democrats table motion forcing Government to release analysis of potential Trump trade war
  • Badenoch speech: half-hearted apology does not absolve her from toxic legacy
  • Triple lock: “bungling Badenoch’s” first policy is to slash the state pension
  • Carmichael welcomes RFA vertical launch licence
  • McArthur calls for clarity over BP job losses

GDP Figures: Government must see sense and scrap jobs tax

Responding to GDP growing by 0.1% in November, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

The Chancellor has put the handbrake on the economy with her misguided jobs tax and the consequence is this pitiful rate of growth.

Every month this persists means less money in struggling families pockets and public services without the funding they need.

After years of the Conservatives’ economic vandalism, the public was crying out for change but this new government is falling well short of fixing this mess.

Rachel Reeves needs to see sense and scrap her foolish jobs tax and pursue a real strategy for growth like fixing our broken trade relationship with our European partners and replacing the broken business rates system.

Liberal Democrats table motion forcing Government to release analysis of potential Trump trade war

The Liberal Democrats are tabling a ‘Humble Address’ motion which would force the Government to release its analysis of the potential impact of Trump tariffs on the UK economy.

It follows reports that the Government has conducted internal assessments of how a potential trade war with the US may hit the UK economy, but is refusing to publish them.

The Liberal Democrat motion will call urgently for the publication of all impact assessments conducted by the Government regarding the impact of Trump’s tariffs ahead of his inauguration on 20 January.

Humble Address motions have been successfully used in the past, including in 2017 when the Government was forced to publish an impact assessment of Brexit on the economy.

The new US administration’s purported plans may involve tariffs of up to 20 percent on UK exports, which could hit the UK economy by £22bn according to the research conducted at the University of Sussex.

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Paul Walter

Kemi Badenoch starts in denial about partygate

By Paul Walter | Tue 5th November 2024 - 11:30 am

Embed from Getty Images

It is very encouraging to see a black woman leading a British political party for the first time. However, the Guardian reports on Kemi Badenoch’s initial interview as leader, on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme:

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Mark Valladares

2-3 November 2024 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 3rd November 2024 - 11:00 pm
  • Over 9000 farms in Labour constituencies could be hit by “tractor tax” as Lib Dems call on govt to scrap the hike
  • Partygate comments: Clear the Conservative party hasn’t learnt anything

Over 9000 farms in Labour constituencies could be hit by “tractor tax” as Lib Dems call on govt to scrap the hike

An estimated 9,079 farms in Labour constituencies could be hit by the “tractor tax” Liberal Democrat analysis has revealed. Liberal Democrats have called on the government to scrap the planned changes to inheritance tax relief for farms announced in this week’s Budget.

The worst affected Labour seats were Penrith and …

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The Voice

Ed Davey reacts to Kemi Badenoch becoming Conservative leader

By The Voice | Sat 2nd November 2024 - 12:19 pm

Ed Davey has congratulated Kemi Badenoch on her election as leader of the Conservative Party and has pledged that the Liberal Democrats will be providing the strongest opposition to the Labour Government:

I’d like to congratulate Kemi Badenoch on being elected leader of the Conservative Party. The election of the first Black leader of a major UK political party is a historic moment for the country.

Voters across the country believe her party is too divided, out-of-touch and unable to accept Conservative failures over the past years.

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Mary Reid

Tory Leadership ballot – battles recommence

By Mary Reid | Wed 13th July 2022 - 7:20 pm

So we are down to six:

  • Kemi Badenoch
  • Suella Braverman
  • Penny Mordaunt
  • Rishi Sunak
  • Liz Truss
  • Tom Tugendhat

Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi did not make the cut.

What does this mean for Liberal Democrats? We are conflicted here – which contender would be best for the country and which would be better for our party’s electoral prospects?  Boris Johnson was a disaster for the country but a huge asset to us in recent by-elections, but that is, of course, is no reason to want him to stay in post.  I would certainly put integrity and decency in a Prime Minister at the top of my requirements, even though it would probably produce an upswing in Tory support.

Sadly, those on the more centrist or liberal wings of the Conservatives, that is, those we have most in common with, simply won’t find enough support these days in either the Parliamentary or wider party membership. Tom Tugendhat, a liberal Conservative, is likely to reach peak support in the next day or two.

Instead cultural warriors like Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman and Liz Truss represent the beating heart of the Conservative party – who will the MPs coalesce behind?

But what of Penny Mordaunt? – described as the dark horse of this contest. She is seen by some as a social liberal, but economic conservative, who seems to stand outside the normal rhetoric.

And then there’s Rishi Sunak, in a class of his own. Too many right wing connections, too much reckless spending during the pandemic (though matched by beneficial furlough schemes and, close to my heart, the Cultural Recovery Fund), too little understanding of the impact of his actions on the poorest members of our society, and too much money of his own – no wonder he appeals to the Tory faithful.

What’s your take on the race?

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