Badenoch appeals for Tory unity as report says Sunak might trigger election to avert leadership challenge – UK politics live

Business secretary says ‘people need to get behind the prime minister’ as report says PM wants to ‘establish his own mandate’

Here are some more lines from Kemi Badenoch’s media round this morning.

Badenoch defended Rishi Sunak’s decision not to immediately describe the reported remarks from the Tory donor Frank Hester about Diane Abbott as racist last week. Sunak attracted widespread criticism because initially No 10 just described the comments as unacceptabled. It did not issue a statement saying the comments were racist until after Badenoch had denounced them in those terms herself, giving the impression that Sunak was following a lead taken by his business secretary. Today Badenoch told BBC Breakfast that she did not accept that interpretation. She said No 10 was taking its time because “they were establishing the facts of the matter”. She went on:

I gave a personal opinion. And to be honest, I don’t want a prime minister who is just going to be lurching out, making comments every five minutes in response to the media.

What he is not doing is following the media’s lead, and I’m very pleased that he agreed with me, but I was making my comments in a personal capacity as the only black woman in the cabinet.

She said she was “surprised” people thought the Conservative party should return the donations (at least £10m, possibly £15m) it has received from Hester. She told LBC:

I’m actually quite surprised that people suggest this [that the party return the money]. This was something that happened five years ago … He’s apologised for it. I think that it is far more important that we accept the apology and [move on]. It’s taking too much attention, I think, away from what is actually meaningful to the people around the country.

She claimed that the Hester comments were “not even really about Diane Abbott”. She told LBC:

He wasn’t talking to Diane Abbott. It wasn’t even really about Diane Abbott. He used her in a reference that was completely unacceptable.

Badenoch claimed that reports of a possible leadership challenge to Sunak were just “rumours” and based on the views of “one or two MPs”. She told BBC Breakfast:

I don’t think that there is very much to these rumours. It is almost the same thing we have been reading week after week for the last two years.

And we need to make sure that one or two MPs cannot dominate the news narrative when 350-plus MPs have different views.

A senior ally of the prime minister said that Sunak’s critics underestimate his resolve. They said that he would be prepared to call a general election if rebels force a leadership contest.

“He’s increasingly determined to prove his point and establish his own mandate,” they said. “You don’t get to achieve the things he’s done without some steel. He’s not just going to roll over.

There is now a real sense that the economy is turning a corner with all the economic indicators pointing in the right direction.

This year, 2024, will be the year Britain bounces back.

I have said many times that people need to stop messing around and get behind the prime minister.

But I think at this particular time, it is really important that we remember that there are thousands of councillors all around the country who are going to be standing for election in May. We need people to focus on what they have been doing to help their local communities and not be obsessed with Westminster psychodrama …