Kemi Badenoch on Laura Kuenssberg this morning

[HermioneWeasley]

I like her, she’s clear and articulate and unapologetic.

she’s also downplaying her race (she was asked about it, didn’t bring it up) as opposed to Rachel Reeves going on again about being the first female chancellor.

Hi kemi

Oh give over, I’ve been on here for years. Is it so shocking that a poster on a site predominantly used by women would be following the election of the latest female leader of a major political party?

There are loads of threads on her. She has quite the fan club, they all say the same thing. She's very articulate (yet continuously has to clarify and backtrack).

Oh that's hilarious well done 👏.

Perhaps the OP didn't know much about Badenoch before, saw her on the programme, and GASP, thought she seemed ok?

Alright, you might not agree, but that's allowed in a democracy.

OP, I watched too. I listened to both her and Reeves, and found reasons to disagree and agree with both of them.

I don't want Badenoch to be PM. I firmly don't agree with her stance on the environment for example. However what I would like her to be able to do is meticulously hold Stsrmer's government to account, and preferably in a courteous (yes I'm aware of her reputation) and calm fashion. I like her delivery. I like the way she calmly said "Please...allow me" when Kuenssberg tried repeatedly to interrupt her before she got to the end of her sentences.. I know I'm not alone in being sick to death of the baying, schoolboy mob in the Commons. And yes, I do like the fact that a black woman has become leader of the Conservative Party.

But time will tell.

Yes, she clearly doesn't like rules applying to her, and doesn't accept responsibility for anything.

Yeah, that's going to work out well...

I think that she will be a good leader of the opposition.

Amazing that a black woman is the leader of the Conservative Party.

I don't agree with all of her political views, I agree with some.

I don’t agree with all her views either

i don’t think there’s anyone in the world who I agree with all their views.

when did that become the benchmark?

Personally I quite like what she said about Partygate.

It was a mess of their own making because the rules they had made were so ridiculous.

I still remember - and lots of people appear to have forgotten - that Starmer was pushing for harder, longer lockdowns, all of which would have had to be paid for.

Yes I agree.

Politics is too tribal.

I don't agree with Keir on some issues either. Particularly his lack of understanding of what a woman is.

She's loathsome

She literally doesn't care about dead babies in the Channel

Why does the left feel able to spout this sort of nonsense? It’s shameful.

Kemi is quite a divisive character and it remains to be seen whether she will be able to unify all wings of the Conservative Party.

Please can someone link a quote to where Kemi has said this?

I don't believe that she has.

When has she said "I literally don't care about dead babies in the Channel"? I'd be interested to learn.

As I said, I'm not especially a fan.

But all this left/right BULLSHIT is preventing grownup discourse and I'm sick of it.

Was aiming to quote both of you. Didn't work.

Me too.

One could argue equally that Starmer doesn't care much about dead babies either. What precisely is he doing to stop the boats carrying these infants?

I’m really concerned for the her. The vile rhetoric that targets her for everything from dead babies in the channel to being a coconut is extremely disturbing- dangerous and offensive.

I don’t agree with all her policies, but she’s clearly an exceptional woman.

Those who are spouting bile are racist misogynists. She has every right to her own opinions regardless of her sex and colour. Expecting her to conform to certain expectations because of her identity is just so bloody regressive.

Is that the best you can come up with? Pathetic. And if Starmer and Co care so much, why not prioritise stopping the human trafficking trade which causes babies to die en route across the channel?

If you mean to say - to me - that dividing politics into left and right is unhelpful, then I can agree that’s so in some contexts. But not here.

I’d be frankly stunned if Badenoch had said what the pp alleges.

If some far-right conspiracy loons make similar allegations about Labour figures then they’d deserve similar condemnation and ridicule. But I was treating the pp as a grown up left-wing person. Why the fuck would such a person say something so stupid and appalling?

Sadly, though, I think we do hear this sort of utter shite from the mainstream left quite frequently.

As a woman I am always pleased to see other women succeed as she has done.
I entirely disagree with her stance on environmental issues. (as demonstrated by her voting record).

Downplay her race?
Does that need downplaying or whatever?
I'm looking forward to the PMQs and her roasting Starmer!
😁

This basically sums up my feelings about her.

At the moment I'm not going to vote for the party she is now leader of. But she deserves respect for getting into that position and I'm prepared to listen to what she has to say.

I'm the ultimate floating voter. I felt the same about Rayner. A woman who has achieved a massive amount and who many people were vile about simply because "young grandmother, long red hair, female, northern, poor background". The misogyny and snobbery was extremely distasteful.

By your childish logic, nobody in the country cares about dead babies in the channel, since we haven't managed to stop it from happening.

I wonder what you have done LaurieFairyCake, which - literally - demonstrates you DO care?!

Silly absolutist comments ruin political discussion.

I like what she said about race (I’ve said as much myself as a brown woman, I am sick to the back teeth of identity politics, I want a culture of universalism).
I think her comments on reeves were a bit much and she should probably tone that stuff down a bit. I always celebrate women getting somewhere, the amount of racism because she has the gall to be black whilst conservative is frankly appalling. I’ll be following her with interest.

Kemi said "Home office officials should not want to look after refugees"

This woman does not respect or feel empathy for people who are refugees fleeing persecution

Kemi said 'I will do whatever it takes to prevent the boats crossing'

What she means is she would implement a policy stopping them landing. Babies, children - left in the sea

54 dead in the Channel this year, 4 babies, 8 children under 16

This is not left/right argument, anyone saying this ought to be ashamed at dragging discourse down to that.

This is about preventing refugees from landing and contributing to the deaths of children. She doesn't give a crap about that.