Kemi Badenoch rejects claims she is jockeying for prime minister – in 4,000-word interview

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Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has voiced her frustration over her proposed bid for Rishi Sunak's job in a 4,000-word interview .

Ms Badenoch told plotters working to oust the Prime Minister from office to stop “stirring up” last month, before reports she was part of a conservative Whatsapp group called “Evil Plotters.”

She also refused to rule out a new election to the top posts, after running for party leader following Boris Johnson's departure.

In a new interview with The Times, she praised Mr Sunak's "stability" as a leader, before complaining that "if I'm abroad doing a trade deal, They say I’m on maneuvers because I’m negotiating a trade deal.” I distance myself from the government. But if I'm here to make a speech, one way or another, I'm also maneuvering. reason why she was conservative.

“One of the things that drove me crazy was the way they talked about Africa. So noble: “We must help Africans”… These stupid left-wing white kids didn’t know what they were talking about. And that instinctively made me think, “These are not my people. »

She also revealed that she almost died in a flash flood in her constituency last year.

She said: “I always thought, 'How do people die in flash floods?' » But at the time, “the water came from nowhere. And there was just a slight dip in the road and suddenly all the electrical systems went out. We got out of the car. The water was thick, strong and fast. We were wading waist deep and it was dark. I had heels! The car was written off. »

“There could have been a by-election,” she added.

She also denounced portrayals of her as a puppet by Michael Gove "as if I have no thoughts or opinions of my own".

She said their relationship was "not what it used to be, but he's someone I have to work with" following reports he had a relationship with one of his friends.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch

(Getty)

She also said that Death threats against him had intensified since Nadine Dorries' book, The Plot, about Mr Johnson's downfall. "If you get the useless coalition...