Fresh from discovering that he has been booted out of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords, Gavin Barwell has found time to compose a 500-word broadside against Kemi Badenoch. The Tory leader withdrew the whip after Barwell repeatedly berated her for pledging to scrap net zero and take Britain out of the ECHR. The move was particularly symbolic, marking the beginning of a long-awaited purge of wets and closet Lib Dems from the party.
In his lengthy LinkedIn diatribe, Theresa May’s former chief of staff whinged that Badenoch ‘should be trying to welcome people back to the Conservative Party; instead, she seems to want to drive more people away’. He claimed the decision ‘suggests an intolerance of criticism’ when there are ‘millions of centre right voters who are attracted by what she has to say about the economy but are put off by some of her other positions’.
Barwell added:
In the tweet that appears to have got me in trouble, I questioned what message she was sending to the electorate by telling people who believe in net zero that they are not welcome as Conservative MPs. It’s bizarre politics when polling shows most Conservative voters support net zero.
Hilariously, the former housing minister claimed: ‘I can’t say I’m too bothered’ by losing the whip. He insisted: ‘I was a Conservative long before Kemi Badenoch joined the party and I will be a Conservative long after she is no longer its leader. It certainly won’t stop me speaking my mind’.
It seems Badenoch’s opening purge of the Tory wets has left Barwell thoroughly soaked in self-pity.
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