Badenoch accused of pressuring colleague to go against Johnson

2023-02-26

Kemi Badenoch is accused of pressuring junior colleague into joining putsch against Boris Johnson just hours after she had resigned herself

Kemi Badenoch had urged Sarah Dines to quit her post via a WhatsApp group
She also told assistant government whip Ms Dines: ‘Resign before midnight’

A minister has been accused of pressuring a junior colleague into joining the wave of resignations that led to the collapse of Boris Johnson’s government.

In an astonishing insight into Tory infighting, it emerged that Kemi Badenoch had urged Sarah Dines to quit her post via a message in a ministerial WhatsApp group.

Just hours after Mrs Badenoch had resigned as a minister in the Department for Levelling Up, she told assistant government whip Ms Dines: ‘Resign before midnight. DO IT. DO IT. DO IT.’ She sent the extraordinary message accompanied by a laughing emoji late on July 6, just after Mr Johnson shocked Westminster by sacking Michael Gove – Mrs Badenoch’s boss – for disloyalty.

The screenshot of the conversation also revealed that Mrs Badenoch, who ran for the Tory leadership after Mr Johnson quit and is now Trade Secretary, went on to remove two other ministers from the group chat, allegedly because they remained in post.

She deleted rough sleeping and housing minister Eddie Hughes from the chat, which was titled ‘DLUHC ex?Ministers Group’, as well as Lord Greenhalgh, who was building safety minister in the Lords.

In an astonishing insight into Tory infighting, it emerged that Kemi Badenoch had urged Sarah Dines to quit her post via a message in a ministerial WhatsApp group

Refugees minister Lord Harrington begged: ‘Please don’t remove me!’ Lord Greenhalgh, a longstanding ally of Mr Johnson who served as his deputy mayor for policing and crime during his first stint in City Hall, posted the screenshot on Twitter on Saturday night

As she began culling the group, an adviser to Mr Gove wrote: ‘The others can stay if they stay quiet.’

His commentary appeared to refer to the ex-PM’s remark in his resignation speech that ‘when the herd moves, it moves’.

Lord Greenhalgh wrote: ‘Insight into the feverish herd-like mentality within this DLUHC ex ministerial WhatsApp group. As Eddie Hughes and I remained in post, we were removed. Both Eddie and I resigned AFTER Boris Johnson announced his resignation. We were the counter herd!’ Mrs Badenoch has been widely regarded as a potential future Tory leader but her behaviour was last night condemned by a number of other influential figures in the party.

Just hours after Mrs Badenoch had resigned as a minister in the Department for Levelling Up, she told assistant government whip Ms Dines: ‘Resign before midnight

Former culture secretary and Johnson loyalist Nadine Dorries wrote: ‘Dines was a new intake MP. Kemi, a minister. ‘Imagine how it felt to be intimidated to resign, to turn against your PM, to be disloyal and when you remained loyal, be removed and isolated from a group thread of your peers.

‘Some might say that amounts to school ground bullying.’ And ex home secretary Priti Patel commented: ‘Duplicity, dishonesty [sic] and self-interest…exactly why the public distrust so many senior politicians…’

A source close to Mrs Badenoch said the idea that she was trying to orchestrate resignations was ‘very overblown’ and noted that the ‘somewhat jocular’ message to Ms Dines was accompanied by a laughing emoji.

The source added: ‘Others can judge a person who feels the need to share bits of private conversations out of context on Twitter.’

Another source at the department said that ministers and officials had been ‘shocked’ by Mr Gove’s sacking that evening, and that the mood in the department had been ‘a bit emotional and confused’.

Mr Gove was sacked after he used a private meeting with Mr Johnson to warn him that he could not survive in No 10. He went on to announce his resignation the following morning.

Mrs Badenoch had resigned about eight hours before the WhatsApp conversation.

She wrote in a letter to Mr Johnson, signed with four other ministers, that it had been an ‘honour’ to serve in his administration and that he had ‘had the most difficult task in a generation’.

But they went on to say the Government ‘cannot function given the issues that have come to light and the way in which they have been handled’, and called on the PM to step aside.

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