Politics Kemi Badenoch Newsnight

Victoria Derbyshire’s gotcha question about Kemi Badenoch’s judgement saw Helen Whately tie herself in excruciating knots

Oonagh Keating. Updated October 9th, 2024

By the end of today, we’ll know which two Tory leadership hopefuls will go through to the membership’s vote. James Cleverly looks like a slam dunk, while it’s a much closer race for second between Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch.

The closest they had to a centre right candidate, Tom Tugendhat, was eliminated on Tuesday.

The Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Helen Whately, spoke to Newsnight’s Victoria Derbyshire about her support for Kemi Badenoch.

It didn’t go as well as Ms. Whately might have hoped.

“Can I ask you about her judgment? In 2018, Kemi Badenoch admitted hacking into Harriet Harman’s website ten years previously. What does that say about her judgement?”

“My experience of working with Kemi _”

“No, I’m asking you about her judgment and that example.”

“Look, I’m not going to be drawn into specific examples which you’re throwing at me at this moment.”

Twitter/X reacted to her shambolic response.

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This time next year, David Jason could be a millionaire from the royalties.

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Victoria Derbyshire fact-checking these Tories like a circus ringmaster was magnificently done

Source Newsnight Image Screengrab