I have the integrity to be leader, says Badenoch in swipe at Jenrick
Kemi Badenoch has attacked her Tory leadership rival Robert Jenrick by pointing out that she has “never been sacked” amid a “whiff of impropriety”.
Mrs Badenoch appeared to question Mr Jenrick’s record as the two candidates aimed their fiercest attacks of the campaign so far in interviews with The Telegraph.
“Integrity matters … with me you’d have a leader where there’s no scandal. I was never sacked for anything, I didn’t have to resign in disgrace or, you know, because there was a whiff of impropriety,” she said, in an apparent reference to Mr Jenrick’s involvement in a planning dispute when he was housing secretary.
Yes integrity does matter, but we have been taught by a long series of painful lessons that the main political parties don't know how to deliver integrity, whatever their leadership claims.
Now Labour is hammering home the same message yet again, but those who pay attention have been aware of the integrity deficit for a long time. It's a disease of UK politics, not something Kemi Badenoch can offer as to gift to weary voters.
To misquote Booth Tarkington -
Kemi entered in the stained-glass attitude of one bearing gifts.
5 comments:
On the fifth of July reasonable people might have agreed that the field for Conservative leader would look pretty duff. But the months have flown past and surely we can all agree "Not as duff as Two-Tier."
It's hard to think of any good he has done, save to elevate Gordon Brown in the ranking of Labour PMs.
dearieme - yes, if elected leader, that's the bar Kemi has to leap over and it's on the floor at the moment. I wonder if Gordon is looking on with a sense of satisfaction?
Integrity is a difficult subject for a politician. Yes, we want them to be free of greed, avarice, corruption and criminal acts. But we also want them to do whatever it takes when dealing with foreign powers.
I tend to think of political integrity as being like legal roadworthiness in cars. You might think you've got it, but a really determined search by a motivated professional would probably pop your bubble. I'm tempted to ask why someone is a politician if they have integrity. That's a bit cynical, but we are where we are.
DJ - that's probably the division we should focus on for our view of integrity. Full domestic integrity and none when dealing with foreign powers.
Sam - "I'm tempted to ask why someone is a politician if they have integrity."
That's one of the problems, we've been conditioned to accept a world where politicians don't need integrity. Not that we like it, but we've adapted to it.
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