Davey: ‘Disdainful’ Badenoch thinks fixing church roofs is beneath her
Her comments reveal the Tories’ ‘disdainful thinking’, the Lib Dem leader will say in a speech to his party’s spring conference.
Sir Ed Davey will say that Kemi Badenoch cares more about Twitter than serving communities after the Tory leader said a typical Liberal Democrat is someone people like because they fixed the church roof.
Her comments reveal the Tories’ “disdainful thinking”, the Lib Dem leader will say in a speech to his party’s spring conference as he calls on party activists to kick the Conservatives out of councils at the local elections.
He will say it shows her “sneering attitude” that “what happens in our communities is trivial and insignificant” during the address in Harrogate.
The Lib Dems are targeting Tory seats in key Blue Wall battlegrounds including Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Shropshire and Buckinghamshire in the May polls.
They will be a litmus test for the Conservatives after the last local elections in these seats in 2021 when the party was riding high following the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
The Conservative leader said the Lib Dems were a party who “want to be nice” but have “foolish ideas” during a podcast interview with Canadian psychologist and political commentator Jordan Peterson.
She said a “typical” Lib Dem is someone that “people in the community like” and think “‘Oh, he fixed the church roof, you should be a Member of Parliament’.”
“And they want to be nice. And then they get there, but actually they’ve got lots of very silly and foolish ideas along with being able to fundraise for a local community.”
Sir Ed will say it is an “honour” to be seen as a party which fixes things locally.
“I think she meant it as an insult! But I’ll happily wear it as a badge of honour. Because she’s right: Liberal Democrats fix things,” he is expected to say.
“Isn’t it telling? Kemi’s sneering attitude that fixing church roofs is somehow beneath her, even beneath politics altogether; that what happens in our communities is trivial and insignificant compared to debating the true meaning of conservatism on Twitter.
“It is exactly that kind of out-of-touch, disdainful thinking that explains the mess the Conservative Party is in today.
“They have abandoned our communities – leaving schools and hospitals to crumble, whole areas without enough GPs or dentists, and water companies to pump filthy sewage into our rivers.
“It’s why so many lifelong Conservative voters have turned to the Liberal Democrats, it’s why people rightly kicked them out of government last July, and why we have to kick them out of our councils in May too.”
The Conservative Party hit back, saying Lib Dems councillors are “clocking off early”.
“While Conservative councils are getting on with the job of delivering lower taxes and better local services, Lib Dems are clocking off early,” Paul Holmes, the shadow local government minister, said.
“In places like South Cambridgeshire, they have brought in four-day working weeks for council staff, leaving residents paying full price for part-time service.”
In Westminster, he said the Lib Dems are either “missing in action” or have become “Labour’s cheerleaders” on the big national questions.
He added: “Time and again, the Liberal Democrats have shown they are unserious, unprincipled, and unfit to hold Labour to account. Under new leadership, the Conservative Party is focused on delivering results, defending our communities, and offering the honest, credible opposition this country needs.”
Sir Ed will also describe the Lib Dems as the only party willing to speak out against Donald Trump and urge retaliatory tariffs against the US – starting with Tesla.
“We must deal with him as he is: bullying, narcissistic, unpredictable. We must deal with Trump from a position of strength, not weakness,” he will say.
