The chairman of the Conservative Party has said that it is waiting for talks with Andy Burnham on defence spending before deciding if there should be a general election.
On Kemi Badenoch being branded a coward for not calling for an election, Kevin Hollinrake told The Camilla Tominey Show on GB News: “I don’t think anybody who knows Kemi Badenoch associates her with the word coward. She’s the most courageous person I’ve ever met in politics.
“We’re all into politics, whatever political stripes we wear, to do right by the country and do the right things. What Kemi has said is the most, the biggest priority now, given that NATO could face an attack by 2030, we need to fund defence properly. What she has said is that we’ll work with the current government to reform welfare to fund defence now, not in a few years’ time, but now, because it needs to happen now. If you will not do that, we want a general election.”
He denied that the real reason was that the Conservatives are not ready for an election: “No, not at all. We can get the candidates, we can get the donors.
“I actually think I said next general election, whenever it happens in a few months’ time or a few years’ time, this will be the first time people will have had the choice to vote for Kemi Badenoch and she’s the most popular leader in politics today. I think we do a lot better than many people would expect.
“The reason we’re in politics is for the national interest, not for the party interest. The national interest is to fund defence properly now, and that’s what we’re willing to work with Andy Burnham on, assuming he’s willing to work with us.”
He also rejected a suggestion that the party was running scared of a defeat: “Nonsense. We’ll know whether Andy Burnham is going to work with us within a few months.
“When he starts to answer questions, which he’s avoiding right now, of course. If he’s not willing to work with us by the autumn, we’ll be calling for a general election.
“I don’t care where we are in the polls, but you know and I know we are closing the gap in the polls. That gap was 14 points today, it’s around six points on the poll of polls. We’re closing the gap every single day with Reform, and as I say, the next election will be the first chance that people have to vote for a new leader, and that I think more people will vote for Kemi Badenoch than currently is represented in the polls. So, we’ll fight that election whenever it happens.”
