Kemi Badenoch will today take a swipe at Boris Johnson – admitting his government rushing through a botched Brexit without a plan was a “mistake.”
Mr Johnson won a huge 80-seat majority in the 2019 election, largely on his promise to “get Brexit done”.
But the Tory leader’s remarks, to be delivered at a central London speech on Thursday, risk provoking fury from her party’s grassroots – and open herself up to attack from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
“I will acknowledge the Conservative Party made mistakes,” Ms Badenoch is expected to say – adding that among them was announcing “that we would leave the European Union before we had a plan for growth outside the EU.”
She’ll say: “These mistakes were made because we told people what they wanted to hear first and then tried to work it out later.
“That is going to stop under my leadership. If we are going to turn our country around, we’re going to have to say some things that aren’t easy to hear.”
Ms Badenoch voted for Brexit – but faced anger as business minister when she ditched plans to scrap EU-era laws copied over after our departure from the bloc.
Labour chair Ellie Reevessaid: “The public rightly lost trust in the Conservatives after 14 long years of failure in government. Far from rebuilding trust, Kemi Badenoch is doing the exact opposite. Another speech, but no apology for her role in Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-Budget that crashed the economy and left a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.
“The Conservatives under Kemi Badenoch have nothing to offer in opposition apart from recklessly continuing to make unfunded spending commitments and overseeing yet more Conservative chaos and infighting. The Tories haven’t listened and they haven’t learned.
“This Labour Government is getting on with delivering our Plan for Change to grow our economy and put more money in people’s pockets, build an NHS fit for the future, make streets safer, deliver clean energy and increase opportunity for all.”
Meanwhile, Ms Badenoch’s spokesman yesterday claimed she won’t reshuffle her shadow cabinet in the next four years.
Asked if Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride would still be in post at the time of the general election the spokesman said he would.
It comes after Mr Stride hit Labour with a barrage of demands to confirm Chancellor Rachel Reeves was secure in her job.
But the spokesman went further, insisting the same was true of Ms Badenoch’s entire top team.
“We’re very happy with our Shadow Cabinet as it is,” the spokesman said.
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