Oral Answers to Questions

Kemi Badenoch Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Leader of the Opposition.

[Mrs Kemi Badenoch (North West Essex) (Con)]

I associate the Opposition with the Prime Minister’s remarks on the horrific train crash, the attacks in Edinburgh and, of course, Armed Forces Week.

I want to start by congratulating the Prime Minister: he is the other party leader who won a by-election last week, although I think I am much happier with my new MP than he is with his. Two weeks ago, the Prime Minister told the House that the Government were funding defence and that everything was under control. The very next day, the Defence Secretary resigned, saying the Prime Minister was “unable” and the Treasury “unwilling” to fund the defence of our country. What changed?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Lady references the by-election—I am very pleased with our new Member of Parliament. In Gorton and Denton, the Tories got 1.9% of the vote. I congratulate her because they got 2.2% of the vote in Makerfield, just edging past Count Binface. She says they are winning everywhere. At that rate, it will take them 500 years to get back into power. Meanwhile, back on the Government Benches, we have delivered the biggest sustained boost to defence spending since the 1980s—£270 billion over this Parliament. That is a record. The defence investment plan will take that even higher. That is about facing the future. We will finalise the plan with the Defence Secretary, and we will have it published before the NATO summit.

[Mrs Badenoch]

I think the Prime Minister forgot to mention that we got 50% of the vote in Aberdeen South. He says that he is funding defence; the truth is he would not be in this mess if his Chancellor had found money for the defence investment plan. The Prime Minister gave her the second most important job in Britain. She was the first female Chancellor. She lives next door to him, but would not even come out to stand by him during his resignation speech; she was too busy getting ready for a selfie with the new leader. Does the Prime Minister feel let down by his Chancellor?

[The Prime Minister]

This is the Chancellor who ended the austerity inflicted on our country for 14 long years. This is the Chancellor who got the economy growing. The Leader of the Opposition does not normally want to talk about the economy. That is because in the first quarter of this year, the UK had the fastest growing economy in the G7. Our growth was upgraded by the International Monetary Fund and the OECD. Last week, unemployment was down and inflation better. That is because with this Chancellor, we have the right economic plan and can weather the global storms of the war that the right hon. Lady wanted to jump into. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”]

[Mrs Badenoch]

Labour Members are cheering so loudly, but if it is all going so fine, why is the Prime Minister resigning? The fact is the Chancellor did let him down. She is the one who snatched the winter fuel payment and who announced a disastrous Budget that killed economic growth. Because of her, a Labour Prime Minister is once again leaving office with unemployment higher than when he came in.

But the Chancellor is not the only person who let him down: the Energy Secretary is putting up bills and killing jobs. [Hon. Members: “Where is he?”] He is not here, is he? He was a failed Labour leader rejected by the electorate, brought back from the wilderness by this man, and when the going got tough, he jumped into bed with the Mayor of Manchester—it is not the first time he has betrayed someone close to him, is it? Does the Prime Minister think that this treachery should be rewarded by being appointed Chancellor?

[The Prime Minister]

The Chancellor and I picked up our party six years ago from the worst defeat since 1935. We turned the party around and made it face the country, and we won a landslide general election, giving the Conservatives the biggest drubbing in their history. Thanks to this Chancellor, we have delivered the fastest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years, with new rights for renters and money for working people, and we are lifting half a million children out of poverty. The test for every Prime Minister is handing over the country in a better shape than they found it. I know I can do that, which is more than can be said for the right hon. Lady’s predecessor, her predecessor’s predecessor and her predecessor’s predecessor’s predecessor!

[Mrs Badenoch]

Once again I have to ask: if it is all so fantastic, why is the Prime Minister resigning? It is very generous of him to stick by his Ministers, because they did not stick by him. He can say what he likes, but the people of Aberdeen gave their verdict—they gave their verdict on his Energy Secretary by voting Conservative.

To be fair, the Cabinet are not all traitors and deserters; some of them have been loyal—loyal and incompetent. Hands up if you think that the Education Secretary is doing a good job—[Interruption.] Even she doesn’t think she’s doing a good job, Mr Speaker—[Interruption.] Oh, someone did. For those who raised their hands—the two people who raised their hands—yesterday, a poll found that 0% of teachers think that the Education Secretary is doing a good job. She taxed private schools to pay for more teachers, but the number of teachers has gone down. It turns out that appointing a spiteful class warrior as Education Secretary was a disaster. Does the Prime Minister agree that he has been let down by her incompetence?

[The Prime Minister]

The Education Secretary grew up in poverty. She knows exactly what it means to grow up in poverty. She was once reluctant to tell her story, but I know her story and it is an incredible story of social mobility and success. I am so proud that she is sitting there, as should be everybody in this country who cares about social mobility. She knows that education is absolutely vital for poor children, and that is why it drives every single priority and value that she has. I would have thought that Conservatives would recognise and understand some of that, but they have fallen so low that they don’t.

[Mrs Badenoch]

The fact is that if the Education Secretary knew so much about poor children, she would not have given them fewer teachers. Teacher numbers have gone down—[Interruption.] It is amazing; I have never seen this much excitement on the Labour Benches. They are cheering so loudly, while there are 400 knives stuck in the Prime Minister’s back. Shame on them. They don’t like it up them, but they know that what I am saying is true.

There were times when the Prime Minister tried to do the right thing. He tried—he did try to cut welfare, and who stopped him? Those MPs behind him. In the words of the Welfare Secretary, his MPs only want to know who they can tax to fund more benefits. They are not Labour MPs, they are welfare MPs. Does the Prime Minister feel betrayed by the people he got into Parliament?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We should think about the language we are using. When we leave this Chamber, do not be surprised if constituents feel that they can use the same language against each other. Let us show a little bit more decorum and respect to each other.

[The Prime Minister]

Thank you Mr Speaker. I was trying to do all this with as much good grace as I could, but I shall certainly miss these exchanges. I am very proud of every one of our MPs who, with a landslide Labour victory, come from all different backgrounds and different places across the country. We inflicted the biggest loss on the Tories in the history of their party. We have picked up our party and we turned it around. We had to address what went wrong, we turned it around, and we won a landslide victory. The right hon. Lady will not address or even talk about their failure after 14 long years.

[Mrs Badenoch]

The right hon. and learned Gentleman is the one who is resigning because of his MPs. There is no point trying to distract from that. Let’s be honest: the Prime Minister has made many mistakes, otherwise he would not be going, but he has also been let down—I am only saying what his staff have been briefing. He has been let down by an Energy Secretary who is killing industry, let down by a Chancellor who is killing jobs, and let down by Back-Benchers who do not understand that government is about tough choices. He U-turned again and again and again to appease them, and now they have abandoned him. And for what? A pair of eyelashes and a black T-shirt. Is it not the truth that, whoever is in charge, the real problem is the Labour party?

[The Prime Minister]

Two years ago, I walked into No. 10 and found a broken economy, broken public services and broken trust in politics. Because of our decisions—my decisions—the country is moving in the right direction: a stronger and fairer Britain, ending austerity, investing in our public services, the fastest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years, more rights for workers, more rights for renters, standing with Ukraine, Britain’s reputation restored, and half a million children being lifted out of poverty. Change promised by a Labour Government, change fought for by a Labour Government, change delivered by a Labour Government.