Dear John,
Delusional Brexit fantasies. Gross misconduct. Shameless lies. Kemi Badenoch scored a hat trick this last week, hitting every note of the Tory trifecta in quick succession. But will she be held accountable?
Badenoch is not just some rogue backbencher. She is - somehow - this country’s Minister for Business and Trade. And she’s also tipped to lead the Conservative Party in the future. This aspiring Prime Minister (or, perhaps more likely, leader of the opposition) is openly perpetuating the toxic legacy of Boris Johnson – and once more exposing the desolate void where political accountability should be. This week alone, she:
Pretended to be engaged in trade talks with Canada (in a likely effort to show off those very real Brexit “wins”), until Ottawa diplomats pointed out that no such negotiations took place.
Engaged in a public battle with recently terminated Post Office chair Henry Staunton over the handling of the Horizon Scandal. Based on their exchange, Badenoch has been credibly accused of misleading Parliament in breach of the Ministerial Code.
Got called out for a lie in December that she had “engaged extensively” with LGBT groups as Equalities Minister – an FOI request revealed that she hadn’t met a single one.
Sunak is, at the time of writing, backing Badenoch to the hilt. In doing so, he emulates his predecessor, Boris Johnson, who dismissed complaints against her in 2021 when she lashed out at a Huffington Post reporter for sending her a request for comment. So the answer so far is no, she will not be held accountable. It seems that Badenoch, like other figureheads on the Conservative right, is more or less untouchable. For now.
It is not just Badenoch’s lack of professionalism or integrity that raises alarm bells. As Levelling Up Minister, she was the driving force behind the recent anti-democracy Elections Bill (that Open Britain and its allies fought so hard against). She regularly fans the flames of the so-called culture wars with nonsense ‘anti woke’ statements.
In short, she is the epitome of the rot that is eating away at our political system. As our Functional Democracy Goals report made clear, we desperately need a new standards system in Parliament - one that is clear, enforceable, and ruthless in holding to account those who would undermine our democracy.
We need to make our political leaders accountable again. We need to learn the lessons of recent years and ensure we don’t repeat past mistakes in the future. We need to fix this broken system.
Rumours of what a future Labour government might do in this space are encouraging (they are reported to be considering the creation of an “independent ethics commission”) but we’re not getting carried away. We need to wait and see whether those rumours translate into concrete plans or become just the latest Starmer u-turn.
All the best,
Mark Kieran
CEO, Open Britain
