Kemi Badenoch Accused Of "Hypocrisy" After Reversing Support For Football Regulator
Kemi Badenoch has come out against the football regulator (Alamy)
4 min read
The government has accused Kemi Badenoch of "complete hypocrisy" after the Tory leader appeared to backtrack on her support for reforming English football.
In an email to a constituent in July 2022, seen by PoliticsHome, Badenoch said she welcomed the fan-led review conducted by former Conservative MP Tracey Crouch into the state of the game and its recommended reforms — which included an independent regulator.
The recommendations also included stricter financial regulation, greater protections for club heritage, an owners' and directors' test, distributing funds across the football pyramid, growing the women's game and improving diversity in the sport.
Badenoch's email said: "Like you, I welcomed the publication of the independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance and its recommended reforms.
"I can assure you that I support these reforms which I feel will set a new and better strategic direction for football, and I look forward to reading the proposals in further detail when the Government publishes its White Paper in the summer."
The Conservative party did not dispute the authenticity of the email.
Badenoch sent it before the last Tory government published concrete plans for how it planned to reform football and that the Labour government had changed the legislation significantly since entering office.
At the time of the email, Badenoch was not in government nor signed up to collective responsibility having resigned from Boris Johnson's administration on 6 July 2022.
On Monday, the Tory leader told the Daily T podcast she believed a football regulator was a "waste of money".
She added she was opposed to it "personally" and that her party was looking at ways of improving the government's plans for reforming the English game.
During last year's Conservative party leadership contest, Badenoch also told The Times that ministers should concentrate on the threat of China, Russia and Iran rather than implementing a football regulator, adding that it was not "not very serious" politics.
Lisa Nandy, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, said "this is complete hypocrisy from the leader of the opposition and a betrayal of fans across the country."
She told PoliticsHome: “Many communities have known the heartbreak of seeing their clubs at the brink of collapse and Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives are clearly content for this to continue.
"This government is committed to introducing a regulator to put fans back at the heart of the game.”
A spokesperson from the Football Supporters' Association said Badenoch had scored an "own-goal".
“It’s curious that Kemi Badenoch now opposes the regulator as we have seen correspondence she sent to a constituent a couple of years ago when she said ‘I support these reforms’. This is what’s known in football as an own goal, Kemi," they said.
“We’d also remind her that the Football Governance Bill was a Conservative Party proposal, which featured in their last manifesto, and many of her colleagues did excellent work on the Bill.
"She’s throwing that on the scrap heap to gain favour with a few rich club owners."
The previous Conservative government promised plans to reform English football but did not have time to legislate for it prior to the July general election.
Labour leader Keir Starmer promised to bring the legislation back to Parliament if elected as prime minister.
Stuart Andrew, Badenoch's shadow culture secretary, was sports minister in the previous Conservative government and was a strong advocate for the legislation.
The Football Governance Bill is currently in report stage in the House of Lords and is expected to receive its first reading in the House of Commons in the following months.
While plans to reform the game are supported by fan groups and the English Football League, the Premier League — the country's highest league competition — has expressed concern about how they will work in practice and warned about "unintended consequences".
Late last year, PoliticsHome reported that a number of Tory peers wanted to turn the Football Governance Bill into a hybrid bill, which would significantly reduce the speed at which it would pass through Parliament and end up on the statute books.
A government source said at the time that the plan was an attempt to "delay and frustrate a government manifesto commitment that had cross-party support".
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