Kemi Badenoch Backer Says Rishi Sunak's Approach To The Tory Manifesto Was "Absolutely Shocking"
3 min read
A former Conservative MP and minister who is working on Kemi Badenoch's leadership campaign has criticised Rishi Sunak's "absolutely shocking" approach to producing the party's most recent manifesto.
Rachel Maclean, who until 4 July was the Tory MP for Redditch and a former housing minister, said of "recent manifestos" it had been "a few people who've just left university who are friends of the current leader" writing the document — in remarks seemingly referring to the former prime minister and his advisers.
Maclean made the comments in a virtual meeting with grassroot supporters of Badenoch at the start of September. She was speaking alongside Lee Rowley, another former Conservative MP who is backing the 'Renewal 2030' campaign to support the former business and trade secretary's bid to succeed Sunak.
In remarks seen by PoliticsHome, Maclean said that Badenoch had not been "coming out with massive lists of policies" during the contest because the Conservatives had to be "realistic" about their situation after their historic defeat to Keir Starmer's Labour in July.
"We are not in government, my friends. We are not in government," she told members.
"We might like some of the policies that we individually think would be the thing, but we are not going to be anywhere near government for four years.
"Yes, as we get closer to that [the next general election], whoever is the Leader of the Opposition will have to have a policy, but you cannot sit here now in September 2024 and have a policy about, for example, immigration, because we have no idea what Labour's going to do over the next five years."
She added that the result of the General Election means that the party is unable to "stop" the Starmer Government from doing what it wants in Parliament. The Tories lost 251 seats after losing support in multiple directions on 4 July, ending up with just 121 MPs.
"We can't make policies. We have a tiny amount of MPs in Parliament. We cannot even stop Labour doing anything.
"So, we just have to be realistic and we have to think about how do we oppose them and how do we rebuild ourselves," Maclean said.
The former Conservative MP said if Badenoch was elected Tory leader in November, there "should be a proper collective process" when it comes to drawing up party policy.
In an apparent criticism of Sunak and his inner circle, she said: "It should not be, as we've seen with the recent manifestos, just a few people who've just left university who are friends of the current leader sitting in a room coming up with a manifesto, which I'm afraid is what they have done.
"They didn't even consult ministers or even members of Parliament, let alone members.
"And I think that was absolutely shocking."
Maclean on Monday told PoliticsHome: "This was a casual comment made in a chat group but it reflects the need to renew our party so that MPs and members who serve their communities and constituents, and who know the issues from day to day experience, are respected and valued in our entire policy-making process, which has not been the case."
PoliticsHome has also approached the Badenoch campaign for comment.
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