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19 July 2022

Former Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch eliminated from Tory leadership race

Badenoch is the latest eliminee from the race to determine the next Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister.

By Alastair James

Words: Alastair James; pictures: Wiki Commons

The former Equalities Minister, Kemi Badenoch, has become the latest candidate to be eliminated from the race to decide the next leader of the Conservative party and Prime Minister.

Badenoch, 42, finished fourth place in the latest round of voting today (Tuesday 19 July) Her opponents Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, and Liz Truss have all gone through to the next vote due to take place tomorrow (Wednesday 20 July) 

Sunak, the current frontrunner, finished in first place again with 118 votes followed by Mordaunt on 92, and Truss on 86. Badenoch received 59 votes of support. 

The former equalities minister and MP for Saffron Walden stood on an “anti-woke” platform and earlier today, she spoke to the BBC where she emphasised her confidence by looking ahead to a future general election.

“I do feel confident. There’s everything to play for. My colleagues are looking at who’s going to be winning the next election and I think I’m that candidate so let’s see what happens.”

Describing herself as “the unity candidate as well as the change candidate” she said she had support from all sections of the Conservative party.

Badenoch has enraged many with her views on trans issues, sex, and gender. Leaked recordings obtained by VICE showed her calling trans women “men” and “transsexuals”.

She has also come to the defense of Professor Kathleen Stock, who resigned from her role at the University of Sussex in November 2021 Kemi told Sky News: “she [Stock] has every right to hold the beliefs which she does, and I think she is probably in step with the majority of the population.”

Ms. Badenoch was urged to quit her role in the Equalities office after she used the term “end” rather than “ban” when discussing how conversion therapy should be dealt with

Former Tory member and campaigner Jayne Ozanne said: “I don’t believe they have the best interests of the LGBT community in their minds and I don’t think they understand us,” of Badenoch and Truss.

More recently, she is reported to have urged the FCA to drop plans for a trans-inclusive policy for self-ID in the workplace. 

The BBC also reports that at her campaign launch event handmade paper signs reading “men” and “ladies” were put up over a sign for gender-neutral toilets, which Badenoch is also against.

According to reports in The Guardian, Badenoch has managed to perform an impressive double u-turn on her support of the government’s current goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

The paper reports she told a husting of Tory MPs on Monday she did support it before telling TalkTv she would delay it. 

A winner of the Tory leadership race is due to be announced on 5 September. Check out our guide for the candidate’s stances on LGBTQ issues here.

The Attitude July/August issue is out now.

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