Braverman blasts Badenoch as Tories ignore unity calls

Two of the frontrunners in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader have entered a war of words, as infighting within the party deepens.

- KATE DEVLIN

Just hours after ex-home secretary James Cleverly called for party unity, Suella Braverman blasted her critics and claimed they were in “meltdown”. She also named her rival Kemi Badenoch, tweeting: “I’d be interested in knowing whether Kemi thinks I’m having a ‘very public nervous breakdown’.”

Ms Badenoch reportedly made the breakdown comments as the Conservative frontbench met on Tuesday for the first time since losing power. She also ignored the unity calls, appearing to stand by her remarks and tweeting that there had been far too much “nodding along” in cabinet when the party was in government.

Ms Braverman has faced a furious backlash since she launched an extraordinary attack on the LGBT+ community during a speech in Washington, in which she described government buildings flying rainbow flags as “occupied territory”.

Ms Braverman hit back at her opponents, saying: “The liberals are having a meltdown about my speech.” She added: “Basic truths about our party are not easy to hear. But I’ll keep telling them on behalf of the common sense, patriotic, conservative majority.”