Kemi Badenoch faces backlash after claiming Covid Partygate row was ‘overblown’

Grieving families who lost loved ones to Covid have condemned the situation Kemi Badenoch for greetings Boris Johnson as “wonderful prime minister” and claiming that Party gate scandal was “overdone”.

The newly elected Tory leader he said the story was exaggerated the government shouldn’t have fined people for “everyday activities” during lockdown, she argued.

Akinnola Lobby, Covid-19 bereaved family advocate for justice who he lost his father during the pandemiche said Independent Ms Badenoch’s comment was “cruel and showed how detached politicians can be from the people they represent.”

Akinola said: “Badenoch’s staunch adherence to this perspective that betraying the nation’s trust is no big deal only reinforces the need to factor the nation’s security into politics rather than depending on who happens to be in the seat of government.” power when the crisis hits.

“Her praise for Johnson is at odds with the evidence presented in the COVID inquiry and makes it all the more important for the sitting government to implement the recommendations contained in the inquiry’s Module 1 report.”

I’m talking about the BBC Sunday with Laura KuenssbergMrs Badenoch said: “I thought Boris Johnson was a great Prime Minister but there were some serious issues that had not been resolved and I think during this term the public thought we didn’t speak for them or care about them, we were in for yourself.

“I think some of it was about perception issues, and a lot of the things that happened around Partygate weren’t the reason for my resignation.

“I thought it was over the top. We should not have created fines, for example. This meant we were not following our principles.”

The comments sparked a furious reaction, with Labor saying they added “further insult to families across the UK who followed the rules, missed the deaths of loved ones and family funerals while their colleagues partied in Downing Street.”

Labor leader Ellie Reeves said: “The leader may have changed, but Kemi Badenoch proved on her first day in office that the Tories have failed to listen and learn.”

The Liberal Democrats said it was “clear that the Conservative Party has learned nothing from years of fraud and scandal under its rule.”

Lib Dem cabinet spokeswoman Sarah Olney said: “Kemi Badenoch’s comments are an insult to those who have lost family members during the pandemic while Boris Johnson partied and lied.

“On her first day on the job, she showed that she had completely lost touch with society.”

The row came a day after Tory members chose Ms Badenoch to succeed Rishi Sunak, calling on the party to “be honest” about the government’s failings and unite behind her.

And it came as Independent revealed that Mrs. Badenoch had made she joked about rape on her personal Facebook page in 2008.

The gaffes reveal why many people thought Ms Badenoch’s election as party leader was a risk, as the former business secretary often made uncomfortable headlines for the Conservatives.

It is taking over the Conservatives as the party recorded its first lead in the polls over Labor since the Partygate scandal broke in December 2021 – BMG Research said the Tories won 29% of the vote compared to Sir Keir’s party’s 28%.

However, a YouGov poll published before the results showed that four in 10 voters, including 29 percent of Conservative voters, had an unfavorable opinion of Ms Badenoch, while Britons were more likely to think Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer would be a better prime minister.

Elsewhere in the interview, Ms Badenoch pledged to reverse Labour’s decision to impose VAT on private schools if it came to power, describing it as an “aspiration tax” that would raise no money.

When it was suggested this would involve taking money from state schools, she said: “At the moment, certainly until Labor came along, we didn’t have this tax, so it’s not taking money from state schools.”

However, Ms Badenoch was less willing to be drawn on whether she would reverse the increase in employer-paid National Insurance contributions if it meant taking money away from the NHS.

She said: “I don’t accept the premise of this question. We (Conservatives) haven’t done these things to increase funding for the NHS, so it’s not a binary suggestion that if you don’t do it it means less money for the NHS.