PM is 'our idiot', says Badenoch, as she insists criticising Starmer is her job, not Trump's
Kemi Badenoch's main points during phone-in with LBC
- US/UK special relationship 'not in the best health'
- The Prime Minister is “our idiot”, and it’s her job to criticise him, not the president's
- UK must cut welfare spending to boost defence budget
- Claims Labour U-turned on proposed social media ban
Kemi Badenoch has told LBC that the special relationship between the UK and US is "not in the best of health" while insisting the Prime Minister is "our idiot" and not theirs.
Listen to this article
Taking calls with Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, the Conservative leader defended the King's state visit to the States but admitted it was likely he would have to listen to the president "slagging off" Sir Keir Starmer.
But she told Nick it was her job to criticise her counterpart, not that of those in the White House.
Asked her opinion on the state of the special relationship between the nations, Badenoch said: "It is not in the best of health.
Read more: David Lammy slams Starmer sleaze probe vote as 'political stunt' by Tories ahead of local elections
"But the special relationship is between the United Kingdom and United States. It's not between Donald Trump, or whoever happens to be in the White House, and whoever happens to be in Downing Street.
"Our head of state is His Majesty, and that is why it is quite right that the King visit the US for the 250th anniversary of American independence.
"That's quite a significant anniversary. If the special relationship was dead, the King would not be going."
Admitting she wasn't envious of the King spending three days with Trump, Badenoch added: "The King will probably have to listen to President Trump slagging off Keir Starmer endlessly.
"I don't think that would be pleasant. But the King has been exemplary in my view, in his behaviour.
"When allies have public spats, the only people who benefit are our opponents. I remember as Trade Secretary other countries doing things that were actually harmful to the UK, and my conversations were behind closed doors.
"They were on the phone. It was never coming out to have spats. I think Donald Trump is wrong to do that.
"Keir Starmer is our idiot, basically. We don't want the US criticising him. That's my job.
"It's my job to deal with Keir Starmer."
The King touched down in Washington on Monday and is expected to deliver a speech in Congress later today, which will be the first by a monarch since 1991.
He will call for a "reconciliation and renewal" of the special relationship, adding: "time and again, our two countries have always found ways to come together".
Elsewhere in the phone-in, Badenoch insisted the UK must cut welfare spending to help boost defence budgets.
Admitting it may not be a popular policy among everyone, she said: "We do need to bring down welfare.
"We are spending more now on welfare than we are earning in income tax. The money that we've been spending on welfare has pretty much come from defence.
"So the two-child benefit cap, we would reinstate, yes, and that would be to fund more troops.
"But there are other things that we are doing. We want a sovereign defence fund which would repurpose a lot of Ed Miliband's net zero project billions, which aren't going to work anyway.
"They're deindustrialising the country and use them for the defence budget."
The comments come just days after the conservative leader criticised the Prime Minister for "talking about an increase" but not implementing an increase.
Speaking in the Commons at PMQs, she hit out at her opposition for blaming past governments for the decimation of the defence sector, and said: "The military and the defence industry want to hear about what he's going to do. Not him prosecuting past governments."