Kemi Badenoch, who has long been considered a frontrunner in the Conservative leadership race, has faced strong criticism throughout the party conference for her controversial comments.
The shadow Housing Secretary, who was business secretary before the election, has long been known for her tough rhetoric and divisive stance on many issues from immigration to “woke” culture.
With a month to go until the party’s next leader is announced, Badenoch is facing fierce competition from her main rival Robert Jenrick.
A recent YouGov poll showed that, if the pair were to reach the final two, Badenoch would beat Jenrick by just four points, a significant drop from the 15-point gap six weeks ago.
She made her pitch for leadership in a party conference speech in which she said the Tories now face years in Opposition – and suggested institutions have been captured by left-wing ideology.
Here, i takes a look at some of the controversial comments Badenoch has faced scrutiny for in recent days – and whether there is any truth to them.
Maternity pay is ‘excessive’
On the first day of the Conservative Party conference, Badenoch faced strong backlash after she appeared to claim that maternity pay in the UK is “excessive”.
Speaking to Times Radio, she said: “Maternity pay varies, depending on who you work for – but statutory maternity pay is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working.
“We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive.
“Businesses are closing, businesses are not starting in the UK, because they say that the burden of regulation is too high.”
Pushed on whether she thought the exact amount of maternity pay was excessive, Badenoch said that “the exact amount of maternity pay in my view is neither here nor there”.
“We need to have more personal responsibility – there was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies,” she continued.
She later clarified her comments on X, stating that “of course maternity pay isn’t excessive” but that the UK “must talk about the burden of excessive business regulation”.
What are the facts?
Mothers in the UK who qualify for statutory maternity pay get 90 per cent of their earnings for the first six weeks and up to £184.03 for the following 33 weeks, but some employers may offer more.
When compared to other OECD countries – a 38-member group focused on economic and social policy – the UK is fourth from last when it comes to the average payment rate, but third when it comes to how long payments are made.
17 OECD countries offer 100 per cent maternity pay for between six and 30 weeks after birth, while only the United States offers no maternity pay at all.
Following Badenoch’s comments, a YouGov poll found that 7 per cent of Britons think that maternity pay is too high, while 36 per cent think it is too low and 28 per cent believe it is enough.
10% of civil servants ‘should be in jail’
Badenoch told a Spectator event at the conference that while many civil servants were “absolutely magnificent”, a proportion of them “should be in jail” for leaking secrets.
She said: “There’s about 5 to 10 per cent of them who are very, very bad – you know, should be in prison bad – leaking official secrets, undermining their ministers, agitating – I have some of it in my department – usually union-led.”
Sources in the Badenoch camp were quick to clarify that her “jail” comments were a joke.
However, she still received immediate criticism from Dave Penman, the FDA union’s general secretary who represented civil servants, who said that “action would have been taken” if her claims were true.
The Civil Service code of conduct states that those employed in Whitehall should not “disclose official information without authority”, and they can face disciplinary action if they do.
The National Security Act 2023, an expanded version of the Official Secrets Act 1989, also prohibits civil servants and ministers from making a “damaging disclosure” of information “relating to security or intelligence” or anything that could cause damage to security services.
But, for the first time, it did introduce a public interest defence to bring in protections for whistleblowers.
What are the facts?
Civil servants have been among those charged under the new act, including Chi Leung Wai, a Border Force officer, and Matthew Trickett, an immigration enforcement officer, who were both accused of spying for China. But these are outliers.
There are currently around 543,000 people employed in the Civil Service, which means that, under Badenoch’s claim, between 27,000 and 54,000 of them have breached the code of conduct or the National Security Act.
Minimum wage ‘overburdens’ businesses
During a Q&A session on the conference’s main stage, Badenoch appeared to suggest that the UK’s current minimum wage was harming businesses.
She claimed that a cafe in her North West Essex constituency had been forced to close because its owner could not afford minimum wage or maternity pay for the employees.
“We are overburdening businesses. We are overburdening them with regulation, with tax. People aren’t starting businesses any more because they’re too scared,” Badenoch continued.
What are the facts?
As of April this year, UK businesses are required to pay all employees aged 21 or over the national living wage of £11.44 an hour, while those 18 to 20 get £8.60 an hour and under 18s get £6.40 an hour.
Several business organisations have warned that future increases in the minimum wage could harm the economy and stifle growth.
Last month, Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) told Bloomberg Radio that there could be “unintended consequences” of raising wages and expanding workers’ rights and that the UK has to “make it easy for businesses to take risks on people”.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, also warned following the minimum wage increase that it was “vital other action is taken to reduce tax and costs, particularly [business] rates” to support businesses with higher costs.
Migrant care workers ‘wipe bottoms’
At the same Q&A event, Badenoch faced backlash for her comments on migrant care workers after she stated their job was to “wipe bottoms”.
She said: “We need to control [immigration]. We need to make sure we are thinking about the next generation, not just who’s going to wipe bottoms for us today.”
Badenoch faced strong backlash from many Labour MPs for the “crass” comments, with care minister Stephen Kinnock calling it a “disgraceful attempt to belittle the outstanding work that our care workers do”.
“Our care workers are skilled professionals who deserve our gratitude and respect,” he said on X.
This is not the first time that she has called for the number of migrant care workers to be reduced.
After the last Government announced plans in November 2023 to increase the salary cap for migrant healthcare workers and bar them from bringing dependents, she called for the “strongest possible measures” to reduce numbers.
She told LBC Radio: “It is not sustainable for us to have a health care service that relies on migrants, especially if they’re bringing in dependents. The net benefit becomes zero or less than zero.”
What are the facts?
Official statistics do not show how many care workers in the UK are migrants, but the NHS reported that, as of June 2023, around 19 per cent of its workforce were not British citizens.
In the year ending March 2023, 58,000 people were granted visa to work as care workers.
At the same time, there are significant staff shortages in the sector, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting that vacancies peaked at 217,000 in July to September 2022.
Badenoch’s remark has drawn criticism online from those who argue care workers work long hours, undertaking a large variety of tasks in stressful conditions.
The average care worker salary in the United Kingdom is £23,410 per year, or £12 per hour.
