Leadership Tensions Flare as Tory Contenders Braverman and Badenoch Clash Over ‘Breakdown’ Comments

Candidates vying for Conservative leadership publicly dispute allegations of a 'nervous breakdown'

Suella Braverman seems to publicly criticize her fellow contender Kemi Badenoch following the leak of Badenoch’s remarks to The Times.

Political correspondent @NifS

Wednesday, July 10, 2024, at 7

Two candidates vying for leadership of the Conservative Party have openly quarreled about information leaked to a newspaper, alleging that one accused the other of experiencing a "very public" nervous breakdown.

On Tuesday, The Times reported that shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch made a comment about former home secretary Suella Braverman during a shadow cabinet meeting.

The report mentioned that Ms. Badenoch criticized ex-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for announcing an election without consulting his cabinet first. She attributed the early departure from D-Day events in France as a reason for the resignation of several cabinet ministers the previous Thursday.

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A day after the incident, Ms. Badenoch expressed her disappointment on X about the leak of the discussions, remarking, "It's regrettable that if we can't have confidential conversations about the issues facing our party, we won't be able to completely tackle the feedback we received from voters last week."

Subsequently, Ms. Braverman, her adversary, seemingly criticized her fellow party member in a tweet.

She expressed curiosity about Kemi's perception of her possibly experiencing a "very public nervous breakdown," and included the hashtags "#honesty #unity #wedontleak."

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Although neither MP has formally announced their candidacy to succeed Mr. Sunak, it is widely believed that both are considering entering the contest.

Recently, Ms. Braverman has increased her visibility, frequently making headlines with her provocative remarks on LGBT+ topics and offering her perspective on why the Conservatives suffered a significant defeat in the general election, which resulted in their loss of power to Labour and a reduction to 121 seats.

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In an article published in The Times on Wednesday, Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly, who is reportedly contemplating a leadership bid, urged that the upcoming contest should avoid devolving into acrimonous disputes and blame-shifting. He acknowledged the necessity for a "sensible post-mortem" of the party's situation, but emphasized the importance of progressing towards presenting a comprehensive proposition to voters.

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