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Kemi Badenoch said the Tories would reverse Labour’s “cruel family farms tax”.
The Tory leader said the Government’s inheritance tax raid on farmers had created uncertainty for the agricultural sector as she pressed Sir Keir Starmer to reassure worried families.
Making her debut at Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs Badenoch asked Sir Keir: “What does he say to farmers who are facing uncertainty about their futures as a result of the increased taxes announced by the Chancellor?
“I am very clear that we would reverse Labour’s cruel family farms tax. What can he say now to reassure the farming community who provide security for the whole nation?”
Sir Keir said: “I am glad she has raised farmers because the Budget last week put £5 billion over the next two years into farming. That is the single biggest increase. Unlike the £300 million which was underspent under the last government.
“When it comes to inheritance, the vast, vast majority of farmers will be unaffected, as she well knows.”
Under Budget changes unveiled last week, land holdings and other farming assets worth more than £1m will be subject to a 20 per cent death duty from April 2026.
Agricultural land was previously exempted from inheritance tax to encourage farmers to pass on land to their children. Farmers have warned Labour’s tax raid will force asset-rich but cash-poor families to sell up in order to afford the tax bill.
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Kemi Badenoch’s cheerleading of Donald Trump at PMQs shows the Conservatives are totally out of touch with our valuesWe should be standing up for human rights, the rule of law and international security – not rolling out the red carpet for Trump.
Kemi Badenoch said she did not get a “single straight answer” from Sir Keir Starmer during her first prime Minister’s Questions session.
The Tory leader also claimed Labour “shame our country on the world stage”.
It’ll come as no surprise that I didn’t receive a single straight answer from the Prime Minister during my first #PMQs this afternoon. Whether it’s giving away the Chagos Islands, supporting reparations or making offensive comments about the President of the United States…… pic.twitter.com/Mui5fkNoTn
David Lammy will remain Foreign Secretary for the rest of this Parliament, Downing Street has said.
Kemi Badenoch asked Sir Keir Starmer to apologise for past comments made by Mr Lammy about Mr Trump but the Prime Minister dodged the question (see the post below at 12.08).
Asked whether the Cabinet minister would stay in post for the whole of the parliamentary term in light of his previous remarks about Mr Trump following the Republican’s election win, Sir Keir’s press secretary said: “Yes, he’s the Foreign Secretary.”
Sir Keir Starmer “would welcome” a visit by Donald Trump to Parliament but matters relating to the House of Commons are “for the Speaker”, Downing Street said after Kemi Badenoch’s question at PMQs (see the post below at 12.12).
Asked whether the Prime Minister would be open to the president-elect addressing Parliament, his official spokesman said: “I think questions for the House are for the Speaker, but clearly the Prime Minister would of course welcome a visit from President-elect Trump to the UK in the future.”
Asked whether he would also welcome a visit by Mr Trump to Parliament, the spokesman said: “And to Parliament, but clearly parliamentary matters are one for the Speaker.”
Kemi Badenoch has appointed Robert Jenrick’s Tory leadership campaign manager as a shadow minister.
The Tory leader announced a series of more junior shadow ministerial appointments this afternoon, including making Danny Kruger a shadow work and pensions minister.
She has also appointed two other backers of Mr Jenrick to frontbench roles: Wendy Morton as a shadow foreign minister and Gareth Davies as a shadow Treasury minister.
Meanwhile, Dame Harriett Baldwin has been made a business and trade minister and Joy Morrissey will be co-shadow deputy chief whip, with Gagan Mohindra, who was announced yesterday.
Kemi Badenoch’s PMQs debut is now in the books.
Telegraph readers have been busy responding to the Tory leader’s first clashes with Sir Keir Starmer in the comments section of today’s live blog:
Starmer has finally let slip the truth – “tax rises for working people”And guess who agrees? The independent watchdog, the OBR.#PMQs pic.twitter.com/O5pivMlZqt
If there were any nerves, Kemi Badenoch did not show them.
The Tory leader was calm and precise during her debut edition of Prime Minister’s Questions as she sought to apply pressure to Sir Keir Starmer across a variety of subject areas.
It was no surprise that she started with a focus on Labour’s past criticisms of Donald Trump. Anyone in Labour will tell you that Mr Trump winning the US election is less than ideal given just how vociferous some of the party’s most senior figures have been when attacking the president-elect in the past.
And closing her exchanges with Sir Keir by pledging to reverse Labour’s “cruel family farms tax” also made a lot of sense as the Budget row over inheritance tax changes continues to rumble on.
There will not always be such an abundance of ammunition for Mrs Badenoch to deploy in the weeks ahead but leaders do usually get better the more they do PMQs.
The fact that Mrs Badenoch made a strong start will therefore delight Tory MPs.
James Cleverly, the Tory former home secretary, told Sir Keir Starmer that Labour had a “growing reputation for dishonesty”.
The Tory backbencher told the House of Commons during PMQs: “Before the election he claimed that he would not put up National Insurance contributions. He put them up. Before the election he claimed he would scrap tuition fees. He put them up.
“Before the election he said hew would not tax family farms. He is taxing family farms.
“Will he address his party’s growing reputation for dishonesty by making good on his commitment to close the Wethersfield asylum accommodation centre in my constituency.”
Sir Keir replied: “We are keeping the promises we made in our manifesto. His problem is he can’t add up. If he could add up he might be down here rather than up there. We will take up the issue in his constituency.”
Sir Ed Davey urged Sir Keir Starmer to reduce trade barriers with the European Union to counteract any potential damage caused to the UK by US tariffs which could be imposed by Donald Trump.
The Lib Dem leader said that “people are really worried that Trump trade wars and tariffs will damage our economy, damage businesses and hit the cost of living here in the UK”.
He said it was “more urgent than ever” to reduce trade barriers with the EU.
Sir Keir replied: “We have pout the economy centrepiece to our Budget and we will do everything we need to do to ensure our economy grows.”
Kemi Badenoch said the Tories would reverse Labour’s inheritance tax raid on family farms.
She told the House of Commons: “What does he say to farmers who are facing uncertainty about their futures as a result of the increased taxes announced by the Chancellor?
“I am very clear that we would reverse Labour’s cruel family farms tax. What can he say now to reassure the farming community who provide security for the whole nation?”
Sir Keir said: “I am glad she has raised farmers because the Budget last week put £5 billion over the next two years into farming. That is the single biggest increase. Unlike the £300 million which was underspent under the last government.
“When it comes to inheritance, the vast, vast majority of farmers will be unaffected, as she well knows.”
Turning to the Budget, Kemi Badenoch said it was a “copy and paste of Bidenomics” as she claimed Sir Keir Starmer could be heading for a single term in office.
She said: “It turns out that a high spending, high borrowing, high inflation approach is less popular than she may have thought. May I suggest he now urge her to change course or is he determined to be a one-term leader?”
Sir Keir replied: “The one thing I learnt as leader of the opposition is it’s a good idea to listen to what the Government is actually saying…”
The Prime Minister said that defence had been “clear and central” to the Budget.
Sir Keir Starmer dodged making a commitment to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030.
That is the pledge the Tories have made. Labour has committed to the same number but it has not set a date for getting there.
Kemi Badenoch said: “President Trump is also right to argue that Europe needs to increase its defence spending. The last Conservative government committed to raising defence spending to 2.5 per cent by 2030.
“Will the Prime Minister finally match this commitment?”
Sir Keir said: “There is no more important duty than keeping the people of this country safe. It was the Labour government that signed the Nato treaty in the first place… we have a strategic defence review, we are committed to 2.5 per cent.”
Tory MPs shouted: “When?!”
Sir Keir continued: “The last time 2.5 per cent was met was under the last Labour government.”
Sir Keir Starmer signalled he would seek to restart trade deal talks with the US when Donald Trump moves back into the White House.
Kemi Badenoch asked: “Given the risk of increased tariffs on UK exports which threaten our manufacturing sector, will the Prime Minister commit now to continue the negotiations on our free trade agreement with the US which the Biden administration cancelled when they came into office?”
Sir Keir replied: “Of course we will discuss issues of our economy with the president-elect as we already have done. Economy, security and global conflict are issues of real significance that ought to unite this House.”
Kemi Badenoch urged Labour to invite Donald Trump to address Parliament on his next visit to the UK as she accused the Government of “student politics”.
The Tory leader said: “I am very sure that president Trump will soon be calling to thank him for sending all of those north London Labour activists to campaign for his opponent.
“Given that most of his Cabinet signed a motion to ban president Trump from addressing Parliament, will the Prime Minister show that he and his Government can be more than student politicians by asking the Speaker to extend an invitation to president Trump to address Parliament on his next visit?”
Sir Keir said: “The Leader of the Opposition is giving a masterclass on student politics.”
Kemi Badenoch asked Sir Keir Starmer if David Lammy had apologised to Donald Trump when they met in September for his past criticisms of the president-elect.
She said: “If he [Mr Lammy] did not apologise., will the Prime Minister do so now on his behalf?”
Sir Keir replied: “There will be many issues on which the leader of the opposition and I disagree but there will be issues that do unite this House on national security and Ukraine and I do look forward to working closely with her on that.”
He added: “The Foreign Secretary and I did meet president-elect Trump just a few weeks ago for dinner for about a couple of hours and we discussed a number of issues of global significant. It was a very constructive exercise.”
Kemi Badenoch thanked Sir Keir Starmer for his “almost warm welcome”.
She said that it was the “immense privilege and the honour of my life” to lead the Conservative Party.
Kemi Badenoch’s first Prime Minister’s Questions as Tory leader is now underway.
Sir Keir Starmer started by congratulating Donald Trump on his US presidential election victory.
He said it was a “historic election victory”.
One Tory MP could be heard shouting at Sir Keir: “Where is your Foreign Secretary?”
He also welcomed Mrs Badenoch to her place on the frontbench and said he hoped they would be able to work together in the best interests of the country.
Tory MPs welcomed Kemi Badenoch to the House of Commons with loud cheers as she entered the chamber and took her seat on the frontbench ahead of PMQs.
Sir Keir Starmer is yet to take his place.
There are plenty of gaps on the Tory benches in the House of Commons ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions.
They should fill up over the next 10 minutes as Welsh questions draws to a close and PMQs gets underway just after noon.
Mel Stride and Dame Priti Patel are both sat on the Opposition frontbench as they await the arrival of Kemi Badenoch.
Kemi Badenoch becoming Tory leader represents a “new start” for the Conservative Party, Suella Braverman said.
The former home secretary told Times Radio this morning: “I think that this is a new chapter for the Conservative Party. We’ve all got to get behind Kemi.
“Now she’s put together a good team and this represents a new start for the Conservatives after quite a sorry few years of failure culminating in this devastating election result that we saw earlier this year.”
A strong performance at Prime Minister’s Questions is unlikely to win Kemi Badenoch the next election but a poor performance could sap Tory morale and impact her long term future as leader, argues Philip Johnston.
“Her reputation as a combative debater in the House precedes her and she needs to show her depleted squadron of backbenchers they have a leader able to take the fight to the enemy.
“While performing well doesn’t win votes among the public, performing badly can sap morale in the parliamentary party.
“Since she only won the support of one third of her own MPs, Mrs Badenoch needs to avoid being seen as a liability by a party that shows no sentimentality and little loyalty towards its leaders if it finds them wanting, even when they are in office.”
You can read the piece in full here.
Chris Philp “shares my robust approach to fixing our border problems”, Suella Braverman said this morning.
Asked if she believed that Mr Philp, the new shadow home secretary, was the man to get tough on the border issue, Mrs Braverman told LBC: “We are not in control of the situation as an opposition party any more. The British people spoke very loudly, they kicked us out.
“I have worked personally with Chris at the Home Office, I know that he shares my robust approach to fixing our border problems.
“What is very clear is that Labour is failing woefully right now.”
Suella Braverman said the UK must leave the European Convention on Human Rights in a challenge to Kemi Badenoch.
The Tory former home secretary claimed Labour’s plan to stop the boats will not work and scrapping the ECHR should be one of a number of big steps taken to regain control of the UK’s borders.
Mrs Badenoch has made no commitment to leaving the ECHR but Robert Jenrick, now the shadow justice secretary, made quitting the treaty the flagship pledge of his failed leadership bid.
The issue is likely to be a significant matter of contention within the shadow cabinet when Mrs Badenoch designs her migration policies.
Mrs Braverman told LBC this morning: “We have got a great shadow cabinet. We have got a new leader, we are all getting behind her and I think she has put together a great team. We need to expose Labour’s weakness and failings when it comes to securing our border.
“Right now we have a pathetic Labour Government when it comes to the border… they have no plan, they scrapped the one thing that may have worked which was our Rwanda deterrent and Keir Starmer goes on about smashing the gangs and putting out drones and fast-tracking cases.
“None of that is going to work. What we need to do, we need to scrap the Human Rights Act, we need to come out of the Strasbourg court and scrap the European Convention on Human Rights, we need to reform our judicial review and we need to get serious about reenforcing our border so that people know that if they come here illegally they won’t be able to stay.”
Sir Keir Starmer will face Kemi Badenoch for the first time at Prime Minister’s Questions at lunchtime today.
It will be a significant passing of the torch moment as Mrs Badenoch replaces Rishi Sunak who had represented the Tories in the weekly head-to-head contests since Oct 2022.
Mrs Badenoch will be hoping to inflict some damage on the Labour premier and get her time as leader of the Conservative Party off to a strong start.
It will be a very different challenge for Sir Keir, with Mrs Badenoch a notably more combative Commons performer than Mr Sunak.
The US presidential election will almost certainly get a mention but it appears likely that at least some of Mrs Badenoch’s questions will be focused on last week’s Budget amid rumbling discontent over Rachel Reeves’ tax rises.
It would have been tougher for Reform UK if Robert Jenrick had won the Tory leadership contest, Nigel Farage suggested.
The Reform leader also said Kemi Badenoch’s victory meant the argument within the Conservative Party about leaving the European Convention on Human Rights was “dead”.
Mr Jenrick was the only Tory leadership candidate to make a firm commitment to leave the ECHR, something Mr Farage has long-called for.
Mr Farage told GB News: “I think many people realise that Jenrick losing means the argument about leaving the European Court of Human Rights is now dead. It’s now over.
“The party is not serious about dealing with illegal immigration into this country…”
He added: “I think, to be honest with you, I think if Jenrick had won, it might have been more difficult. That isn’t the case.”
Reform UK has experienced a spike in new members since Kemi Badenoch became leader of the Conservative Party, Nigel Farage said.
The Reform leader told GB News: “I can tell you that over the last three days, the numbers paying their £25 or more to join Reform has gone up the most since our conference that we had a few weeks ago in Birmingham.
“People are coming to us. Conversations are happening with councillors all over the country.”
Reform has said it is closing in on 100,000 members.
Nigel Farage claimed “Remainers and centrists” have the “balance of power” in Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet.
The leader of Reform UK said Mrs Badenoch was the “continuity candidate” for the last 14 years.
Responding to the shadow cabinet appointments, Mr Farage told GB News: “I think Priti Patel is almost the only person that Kemi Badenoch has appointed that anybody has actually ever heard of. I mean, go through the list of the rest. They’re complete unknowns. All the big beasts are choosing to sit it out on the back benches.
“Looking at the makeup of the shadow cabinet, I think the sort of Remainers and centrists overall have the balance of power. And I think what Kemi Badenoch’s leadership represents is continuity.
“She is the continuity candidate from all that came over the course of the last 14 years.”
Kemi Badenoch can grow in popularity as Leader of the Opposition like Margaret Thatcher did and return the Conservative Party to power at the next general election, according to Sir Iain Duncan Smith.
Sir Iain said Mrs Thatcher had been written off by much of the media when she became Tory leader but she grew into the role and “became that person that nobody could take their eyes off”.
He said he believed Mrs Badenoch “has that within her”.
Asked if he believed Mrs Badenoch will lead the Tories into the next general election, he told GB News: “I’ve been around a bit. I’ve seen lots of leaders of the opposition. I’ve seen the good ones that come through, I’ve seen the difficult times when you’ve got somebody like Blair in front of you.
“The truth is, you don’t pick a Leader of the Opposition as a Prime Minister. You pick them as a Leader of the Opposition. Look at Mrs Thatcher. When she was picked most of the media I recall, they all said, Tories have taken a turn for the worst. She’s not electable.
“Three years later, she wins the general election. Why? Because she developed, she grew. She became that person that nobody could take their eyes off. I think Kemi has that within her.
“She’s strong and aggressive, and I think she’ll develop the judgement in terms of these things which matter and that’s what I want. I don’t want a Prime Minister now, I want a Leader of the Opposition.”
Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet must adopt the tactics of guerrilla warfare to get the Government into difficulty, Sir Iain Duncan Smith has advised.
The Tory former leader told the shadow cabinet yesterday that life in opposition is like trying to take on a “Leviathan” and the best way to make progress is to “strike when you’re least expected to”.
Asked what he had told shadow ministers, Sir Iain told GB News: “That opposition is tough, and it’s what you make of it. I called it The War of the Flea, which is you’re dealing with this Leviathan on the other side which has all the resources, all the money, all the civil service.
“You have very little, but what you do have is knowing to strike when you’re least expected to, and to get them into difficulty, to split the Labour Party at some point.”
Told that it sounded like “guerrilla warfare”, he said: “Well, for the opposition it is. It is essentially a form of [guerrilla warfare] because that’s what you want. That’s what the public want.
“They want to know that you’re on the front foot and holding them to account no matter what, so they don’t get away with some of these flip decisions like banning this and banning that, or raising taxes. You’re going to be on the side of those who have to pick up the bill.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith has revealed he gave a pep talk to the shadow cabinet when it met for the first time yesterday.
The former leader of the Conservative Party addressed Kemi Badenoch’s top team to set out what life in opposition is really like.
Sir Iain, who was leader of the opposition from 2001 to 2003, told GB News: “I went there to address [the shadow cabinet], so there’s a start. I just said what opposition is like. You’ve got to remember, we’re a whole generation away from opposition now, and so most of the MPs that are in the cabinet have never, in fact all of them, have never experienced opposition.
“I went through 13 years of Labour government under Tony Blair, so I do know what being an opposition is like. And it’s a very hard, difficult task because you’ve got none of the resources government has, but at the same time, you’ve got to hold them to account.
“And I was just really chatting about that to them, to say there are plenty of devices you can use. And also, essentially, although we are in opposition, this is not the Blair government that I was opposed to. They started on 44 per cent and went upwards afterwards. And they were running along at some 50 per cent plus for some years after they got elected.
“This Government only started at 33 per cent in the poll, which is pretty low. In fact, I think it’s the lowest ever, and got this enormous result because of the way that ex-Tory voters deserted us. And down they’ve gone to what is now level with us at 27 per cent. So I have to say it’s a slightly different target now.”