I’ll take a chainsaw to the bloated State, vows Kemi Badenoch… just like Argentina’s strongman president
Kemi Badenoch wants to be Britain’s answer to Argentina’s chainsaw-wielding, state- slashing president.
The Conservative leader described Javier Milei as ‘the template’ as she praised his honesty with voters and ability to deliver results.
In his election campaign in 2023, Mr Milei gained fame for wielding a chainsaw as a symbol of the deep cuts he planned to make to Argentina’s state spending.
He has since halved the number of government ministries, slashed the public sector workforce by 10 per cent and taken steps to overturn years of fiscal deficits.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mrs Badenoch was asked whether Britain needed someone like Mr Milei and whether she was such a politician.
‘Yes and yes,’ she replied, adding: ‘Milei is the template.’
The Argentinian president later retweeted her remarks, and said: ‘Fenomeno Barrial’, or ‘neighbourhood phenomenon’.
Mrs Badenoch also used the interview to dismiss chatter about a challenge to her authority as Tory leader. She said: ‘I can’t spend all my time worrying about regicide.
Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, (pictured) wants to be Britain’s answer to state-slashing Argentinian president Javier Milei
Badenoch has described the Argentine President has ‘the template’ as she praised his honesty with voters and ability to deliver
I would lose my mind. I’m so thick-skinned to the point where I don’t even notice if people are trying to create harm. That’s extremely useful in this job.’
She said ‘muscle memory plus trial and error’ had helped her to grow in the role, but admitted of her party: ‘The public are not yet ready to forgive.’
She added that she was being ‘very, very relentless’ in talking about the economy and was ‘terrified’ by levels of government debt, the sight of the state ‘spreading its tentacles everywhere’ and crowding out the wealth-creating economy.
The Opposition leader also warned voters against following Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, saying her party cannot be a ‘repository for disenchantment’. Instead, she said Conservatism had to be about ‘offering hope, fixing problems’.
Her comments come after reports that many Tory MPs who backed Mrs Badenoch in the leadership contest have privately turned on her and believe her core team of advisers are ‘lightweights and sycophants’.
Faltering Conservatives may seek to trigger a vote of confidence in their leader in November, once a grace period protecting her from such a move ends, the New Statesman suggested. Asked about the idea that Tory MPs were already plotting a coup, Mrs Badenoch said this week: ‘I would say that if nobody put their name to it, then I’m not paying any attention to it.’
EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: ‘No10 lied to hide distaste for Donald Trump’s speech in UK’
When Tony Blair was prime minister, he was accused of trying to ‘muscle in’ on the Queen Mother‘s funeral.
Now, Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has become embroiled in a row involving Buckingham Palace himself.
Downing Street – and by extension the Royal Household – has been caught in a lie about the coming state visit of Donald Trump.
No10 claimed the US President was unable to address both houses of Parliament because his visit would not start until Wednesday, September 17 – the day after the House of Commons breaks for the party-conference recess.
However, I understand that parliamentary clerks made it clear that this excuse was groundless. They pointed to a precedent in 2010 when Pope Benedict addressed both houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall.
That occurred, neatly enough, on September 17 – when the Commons had also broken for its conference recess the day before.
‘There was no huffing and puffing about Benedict addressing us out of term-time,’ says a senior parliamentary figure.
‘It is clear that Sir Keir Starmer’s advisers simply did not want President Trump making a speech at the Palace of Westminster. They are entitled to their view, but they should not bend the truth by claiming that the dates made any such speech impossible.’
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has become embroiled in a row involving Buckingham Palace himself
Downing Street – and by extension the Royal Household – has been caught in a lie about the coming state visit of Donald Trump (Pictured from L to R: Queen Camilla, King Charles, President Donald Trump, Melania Trump
However, I understand that parliamentary clerks made it clear that this excuse was groundless. – Pope Benedict (pictured) addressed both houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall on his visit in 2007
Benedict’s address was not without controversy. Before his state visit he urged Roman Catholic bishops to fight a gay-rights Bill with ‘missionary zeal’. His arrival in the country drew protests from human-rights campaigners.
Downing Street and Buckingham Palace did not want the White House to think President Trump was being snubbed, even though that clearly seems to be the case.
A No10 spokesman tells me: ‘We’re delighted that President Trump accepted His Majesty’s offer of an unprecedented, historic second state visit, and the Prime Minister looks forward to welcoming President Trump to the UK.’
Back touring Britain in September, Eric Idle, 82, rules out a stage reunion with his Monty Python colleagues. They last did ten shows together in London in 2014.
Idle, who recently fell out with John Cleese, Sir Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam over Python’s business affairs, snaps: ‘I don’t think this lot will get together and be funny. I don’t think it’s possible. I want to be funny with new people, or jam with other wonderful musicians.’
Eric Idle, 82, has out a stage reunion with his Monty Python colleagues (pictured on the Graham Norton Show in July)
Idle recently fell out with John Cleese, Sir Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam over Python’s business affairs (pictured with Sir Michael Palin in Monty Python’s Life Of Brian)
‘It’s your day!’ Top tips for brides by newlywed Toff
Having married BrewDog pub chain founder James Watt in March, Georgia Toffolo has compiled some advice for brides-to-be.
Here are the seven pearls of wisdom from the I’m A Celebrity winner, 30, who wore a Divine Atelier gown, left, when she exchanged vows with Watt, 43, both pictured right, in Aberdeenshire:
You shouldn’t have to invite people for the sake of it. Your guest list isn’t a diplomatic summit. Invite people you love. It’s your day, not networking. You shouldn’t feel guilty for that.
Wedding cakes are a waste of money. We had the children bake ours that morning. No fancy tiers, no overpriced price tag. Just made with pure love. Best decision ever.
Flowers are overpriced and overrated. I grabbed daffodils straight out of the vase on our kitchen table, and you know what? They were perfect. £2 from the supermarket and not a single florist in sight.
You don’t need to spend the morning apart. Who made that rule up? Waking up together on your wedding day is actually really romantic (and calming). The chance to share your nerves and excitement together is something to be cherished.
Children SHOULD be at weddings. Children bring the best chaos, particularly on the dance floor. They add magic, not mess.
Georgia Toffolo has compiled some advice for brides-to-be following her marriage to BrewDog pub chain founder James Watt in March
The newlyweds said children SHOULD be at weddings. Children bring the best chaos, particularly on the dance floor. They add magic, not mess
No need for a three-course meal. We had burgers at BrewDog. Grazing tables, pizza ovens, food trucks… all way more fun.
You don’t have to change your surname. He can take yours. Or double-barrel. Tradition is optional, your identity isn’t.
Have King’s garden woes hit Highgrove’s kitchen?
It’s not just in the gardens of his Gloucestershire retreat that King Charles is apparently struggling to keep staff.
Highgrove House (pictured) is advertising not just for a head chef, but a sous chef, a chef de partie, a commis chef and an assistant hospitality manager
King Charles is apparently struggling to keep staff at his country hideaway – specially after 11 of the King’s 12 gardeners quit following complaints about his ‘demoralising’ and ‘impolite’ feedback
Highgrove is advertising not just for a head chef, but a sous chef, a chef de partie, a commis chef and an assistant hospitality manager.
The roles are advertised as permanent and full-time, with ‘up to £30,000’ offered for the hospitality role, and ‘up to £38,000’ for the head chef position.
A Sunday Times investigation last weekend claimed 11 of the King’s 12 gardeners had quit following complaints about his ‘demoralising’ and ‘impolite’ feedback. His charity, The King’s Foundation, found evidence of staff shortages and suggested a pay review.
Bonkbuster author Dame Jilly Cooper says she’s a failed matchmaker in real life thanks to Bluebell, her ‘larky and bossily assertive’ greyhound.
‘If I wanted to introduce a single man to a woman and put them on my sofa, Bluebell would saunter in, leaping between them, waggling her silken hips to separate them,’ she says of her pet, who died four years ago.
Dame Jilly, 88, reflects: ‘Having a dog stops one reaching for the gin.’
Bonkbuster author Dame Jilly Cooper (pictured) says she’s a failed matchmaker in real life thanks to Bluebell, her ‘larky and bossily assertive’ greyhound
Party girl Pike’s tickled pink about stage role
Treading the boards in this country for the first time in 15 years, Saltburn star Rosamund Pike is determined to prove that she fits the stage like a glove.
The Oxford graduate, 46, wore an eye-catching pair of fuchsia opera gloves to the first-night party following the debut performance of Suzie Miller’s new play, Inter Alia.
The former Bond girl, who has two children with her businessman boyfriend Robie Uniacke, 64, paired them with a floral dress by Erdem.
Treading the boards in this country for the first time in 15 years, Saltburn star Rosamund Pike is determined to prove that she fits the stage like a glove in Inter Alia (pictured)
The Oxford graduate, 46, wore an eye-catching pair of fuchsia opera gloves to the first-night party following the debut performance of Suzie Miller’s new play, Inter Alia.
Banksy has a big secret: More than a dozen of his works are hidden away at Switzerland’s embassy in London.
Asked which of the street artist’s pieces no one has ever seen, his first agent and photographer, Steve Lazarides, replies: ‘The Swiss Embassy car park.’
Banksy has a big secret: More than a dozen of his works are hidden away at Switzerland’s embassy in London and many of them have never been seen (Banksy rhino mural in Charlton)
He explains: ‘It was bats*** crazy. The old Swiss ambassador put on a full-on rave down in the car park at the Swiss Embassy and invited Banksy.’
Speaking at his talk in east London, Crime Pays – The Untold Story Behind Banksy, in association with Grove Gallery, Lazarides adds: ‘I’d say between ten and 15 complete works are on the walls of that embassy.’
