KEMI Badenoch says the Tories lost the election because they “talked right but governed left”.
The bookies’ favourite took a potshot at Rishi Sunak’s premiership as she launched her bid to replace him as leader.
Setting out her stall for a smaller state, she warned that a “government that tries to do everything will likely end up achieving nothing”.
Reflecting on the last Tory government, the Shadow Communities Secretary told activists: “This was one of our mistakes. We talked right but governed left, sounding like Conservatives but acting like Labour.
“Government should do fewer things, but what it does, it should do with brilliance.”
The ex-Business Secretary also took aim at Labour for “trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public” over how bad the economy is.
And the “straight-talking” Tory refused to apologise for being “combative” – saying: “I think it’s important to defend my values.”
Ms Badenoch has become a darling of the party’s grassroots after railing against woke nonsense while in government.
But yesterday she denied that was all she offered and defended her record in the Cabinet on the issues.
She said: “People who say that all I did was culture wars were not paying attention. I was doing my job.
“I was the equalities minister, I had to look after very, very tricky issues like race and gender – things that everybody ran away from.
“I didn’t run away. And not only did I not run away, I defended people who needed help, and I dragged Labour onto our turf.”
