Suella Braverman has publicly attacked Kemi Badenoch as the Tories’ post-election civil war erupted.
The former home secretary challenged her leadership rival after details of yesterday’s shadow cabinet meeting were leaked.
The Times reported that Badenoch criticised Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a snap election without telling his cabinet, as well as his “disastrous” decision to leave the D-Day commemorations early.
She also said that Braverman appeared to be having a “very public” breakdown.
In a post on X this afternoon, Badenoch said: “It’s a shame our discussions in shadow cabinet were leaked yesterday. If there is no private space to discuss our party’s challenges, we will never fully address what the electorate told us last week.
“The views of those outside these meetings matter too. Not just backbench MPs, but our party activists, members and friends who lost seats after giving everything to the campaign.
“In government, we had too much nodding along in the room and arguments outside it. That culture needs to change. We need to be honest with one another in private, and united in the direction we take afterwards.”
In her response, Braverman said: “I’d be interested in knowing whether Kemi thinks I’m having a “very public breakdown”.
The spat came despite pleas by James Cleverly - another possible leadership contender - for the party not to descend into “bitter in-fighting and finger-pointing”.
He said: “We must get our act together. We need to unite in order to deliver. It will take humility and hard work, to recover our reputation for competence and integrity, to rebuild trust in our party, and unite behind a broad platform that will give people a reason to vote Conservative again.
“We must do this, for the sake of our party and country, so we can put ourselves in the best possible position to win the next general election and once again deliver for the British people.”
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