Kemi Badenoch kicked off her Tory leadership bid by taking aim at David Tennant and was owned into the next dimension

Not long now until Rishi Sunak is no longer leader of the Conservative Party although given the opposition leader’s profile since his calamitous election defeat you could be forgiven for thinking he had shipped off to California long ago.

And among those hoping to succeed Sunak as Tory part leader is Kemi Badenoch, who kicked off her campaign on Twitter – where else – by re-igniting her row with former Doctor Who star, David Tennant.

Tennant, one of the great if not the greatest Doctor, memorably told the British LGBT Awards ceremony a few months back that he wished Badenoch would “shut up” as he collected a prize for his support for the transgender community.

Tomorrow, I launch my @renewal2030 campaign to be the next leader of our great Conservative Party.

Join me at 11.00am, here on X! pic.twitter.com/yAalIDVM9M

— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) September 1, 2024

And very possibly taking aim at the Doctor wasn’t the wisest way to kick things off, prompting a widespread panning all over social media.

These people surely said it best.

1.

‘David Tennant told me to shut up but I don’t want to shut up’ is the weirdest marketing campaign I’ve ever seen https://t.co/gRMXuKdSf7

— rhys (@rhyssuxx) September 1, 2024

2.

David Tennant will be remembered long after you’ve become scarcely more than an embarrassing and forgettable little footnote in the history of one of the bleakest and nastiest periods of political governance in the UK.

— Miffy (@miffythegamer) September 1, 2024

3.

Also, it’s hilarious to refer to David Tennant as the ‘establishment’ when at the time of him saying this, he was an actor at an award show, and you were an elected member of the fucking GOVERNMENT https://t.co/6jLPBJGXTr

— Josh Carr – #TPAODW (@joshryancarr) September 2, 2024

4.

yea because the british public definitely dont love david tennant

— pierbi (@pierbiwierbi) September 1, 2024

5.

I would simply not make ‘David Tennant doesn’t like me’ the centrepiece of my political campaign https://t.co/ILXR5UthCs

— Hugh Brechin (@HughRBrechin) September 2, 2024

6.

David Tennant is a great man, you are a nasty piece of work.

— Nyx Tryxi (@Nyxi_Tryxi) September 1, 2024

7.

Truth is, David Tennant spoke for a nation. @KemiBadenoch should shut up not because she’s a woman, or black, or a Conservative (she’ll pretend it’s any of the above), but because she is a small-minded bigot playing to a base that hates and misrepresents trans people. Unworthy. https://t.co/s8ZHTW0wGs

— Darren Styles OBE (@bydarrenstyles) September 1, 2024