Kemi Badenoch says Tory hopefuls who back net zero will be rejected
The Conservative leader also said she would not give special treatment to former ministers because she is not building a 'retirement home for failed politicians'
Kemi Badenoch has told Conservative MP hopefuls that if they support net-zero emissions targets, she will reject them, claiming she wants people “outside politics” to put themselves up for election.
Listen to this article
The Conservative leader has said that over 2,000 people applied to become members of the party at the next election, but unfortunately, many of them would be unsuccessful because of the “higher standard” being upheld by the party.
Badenoch wrote in the Telegraph that candidate vetting was not just “admin” or a “favour to former colleagues” and revealed that one candidate even turned up drunk to their assessment.
She claimed that some hopefuls “should never have been candidates before” and had “failed basic psychometric tests”.
Read more: Ann Widdecombe, longtime Conservative MP who appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, dies aged 78
Read more: UK beach forced to shut after asbestos discovered in sand
She went on: “I am building a team with a plan that can run the country and deliver radical change in the 2030s, not a retirement home for failed politicians.”
Badenoch claimed she would not admit applicants who supported net-zero targets, which she believes “make energy more expensive and are destroying industry”.
She highlighted that there would be no favouritism in the protest, meaning “no special treatment for former MPs”.
She added: “Just because someone was a minister does not mean they automatically come back as a minister again … Everyone has to earn their place.”
Badenoch said she recognised that this meant some applicants could defect to Reform or the Liberal Democrats, and responded: “So be it.”
She said that instead, she is targeting “serious businesspeople, engineers, electricians, builders, teachers … and creatives”.
She added: “We need candidates with the five Cs: they must be clever, have charisma, communication skills, conviction and, most importantly, be Conservative.
“Britain does not need more people who can give speeches on subjects they barely understand for a few likes on social media.
“It needs legislators. People who understand that parliament is about the big decisions: tax, borders, welfare, policing, energy, defence and war.”