Excruciating Moment Kemi Badenoch Struggles To Answer BBC's Fundamental Liz Truss Question

Kemi Badenoch looked bewildered when asked by the BBC if former prime minister Liz Truss was still a member of the Conservative Party.

The current Tory leader served as the international trade secretary during Truss’s short time in Downing Street in autumn 2022.

But, since unveiling £45bn of unfunded tax cuts in her mini-Budget, subsequently being kicked out of office by her own MPs and then losing her parliament seat in last July’s general election, Truss has become a sore spot for the Conservatives.

Badenoch’s own shadow chancellor Mel Stridetook aim at the former prime minister in a speech on Thursday, arguing that she had destroyed the party’s reputation for economic competence.

So on Friday, the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason asked Badenoch: “Why not throw her out of the party?”

Badenoch frowned and asked: “Is she still in the party?”

“Well, you tell me,” Mason said.

“Well, you tell me!” Badenoch laughed. “You’re the one asking the question.”

“You’re the party leader,” he replied.

Badenoch deflected by saying Stride’s speech focused on how the mini-Budget did not “balance”.

Asked if that “wrecked the Conservative brand,” she replied: “Look at what happened, people didn’t understand why we had done that, and so our reputation for economic competence was damaged.”

Mason tried again: “So why not kick Liz Truss out then?”

Badenoch said the Tories are trying to show the public what their economic plans are, but claimed it “is not about any particular individuals”.

“I don’t want to be commenting on previous prime ministers,” the Conservative leader said. “They’ve had their time. What am I going to do now? Removing people from a political party is neither here not there in terms of what it is your viewers want to see.”

He replied: “Well, maybe it is though, because maybe it would send a signal. Because you appear to be saying today that you’re happy to have Liz Truss as a member of the Conservative Party.”

Badenoch said: “Chris, Liz Truss is not in parliament anymore. She’s not in parliament anymore.

“We need to focus on how we’re going to get this country back on track. What we have right now is a Labour government, it’s Keir Starmer.

“We need to stop talking about several prime ministers ago and talk about the prime minister we’ve got now and what he’s doing to the country.”

Truss’s press secretary later told HuffPost UK that he believes the ex-PM is still a member of the Conservative Party.