Kemi Badenoch leadership ambition rumours swirl after a campaign to make her Tory leader is revived
- The Backingbadenoch.co.uk website was quietly updated a few weeks ago
- As were the corresponding Twitter and Facebook accounts
Speculation about Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch’s ambitions was gathering pace last night after a campaign to make her leader of the Tory party was revived.
The Backingbadenoch.co.uk website was quietly updated a few weeks ago, as were the corresponding Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Her aides said the campaign was ‘grassroots’ and had nothing to do with her. Tory sources were not convinced.
One said: ‘This is a time to start pulling together for the country, not measuring up the curtains.’
But a source close to Mrs Badenoch said: ‘This site and Twitter account have absolutely nothing to do with Kemi, nor does she know who runs them.’
Speculation about Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch’s ambitions was gathering pace last night after a campaign to make her leader of the Tory party was revived
Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch (pictured centre in Auckland ) put pen to paper on membership of the CCTPP group, which includes 500million people and has a combined GDP of around £12trillion
The Backingbadenoch Twitter and Facebook accounts have seen a recent surge in activity.
READ MORE: Kemi Badenoch steps in as probe into equality chief Baroness Falkner is halted again – after fears that the correct processes have not been followed at the Equality and Human Rights Commission
The Twitter account – headed ‘Kemi for Prime Minister’ – has 11,500 followers, including many Tory MPs.
It has pinned a Mail on Sunday story about her recent appointment of a ‘campaign manager’, James Roberts, which led to her being accused of being on manoeuvres.
Allies of Mrs Badenoch say the ‘campaign manager’ is an adviser ‘leading on MP engagement’ and her recent meetings with MPs have been about post-Brexit deregulation.
After the Tories’ recent by-election defeats, the campaign website endorsed a Conservative MP who said: ‘Kemi isn’t shy about what’s going wrong at the moment.
She sees herself as one of the few grown-ups who can take over from Rishi…’
A source close to Mrs Badenoch said: ‘Kemi is not responsible for monitoring other people’s tweets.
‘She is busy getting on with the job, signing our biggest post-Brexit trade deal and delivering a £4 billion investment in a new [car battery] gigafactory… At every point she has backed the PM, who knows she is 100 per cent behind him.’
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