TORY MP Justin Tomlinson says he’s convinced Kemi Badenoch will end up in Cabinet – whoever wins the race to Number 10.
In an interview with GB News, Mr Tomlinson, who backed Badenoch but is yet to choose between Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, said: “I’d not be surprised to see, if Liz should win, that she’ll end up picking Kemi Badenoch into the Cabinet. When I chose to support her, I didn’t really know her personally, I had just seen her performance on Select Committees at the dispatch box, and she was a cut above. Her ability to engage, her ability to hold a position on an argument.
And whoever wins, we got to have Kemi as part of that because we’re not a presidential system. We are a cabinet-based government and as we rapidly head towards the next general election, we’re going to need our very best performers, so we can be on the front foot and I have no doubt whoever wins will be keen to put Kemi in a key position in government.”
Asked if there was a move that could be made that would help him choose who to support, he added: “It’s the ability to engage with the public so that we can have a good chance of getting that unprecedented fifth term. The People’s Forum on GB News is something we needed at the beginning of the contest. We kind of rushed the MP selection bit and now we are getting into these proper bits.
The hustings at the time were 30 seconds answers for each candidate on a few policies, whereas you on GB News really did explore things in that People’s Forum. If only we could have done that at the beginning. Frankly it’s taken too long and there’s pressure on both teams to make new announcements when perhaps we’ve probably exhausted the announcements. We need to learn from this for the future, but hopefully not too soon.”
Regardless of who was to win, the former Minister of State for Disabled People said those in power need to get “far better at communicating” what support is to the public.
The North Swindon MP added: “What we need to get better is that when we do provide support, that we get far better at communicating what that support is. I’ve lost count of the number of emails, letters and phone calls. I’ve dealt with constituencies that have said ‘you haven’t done anything yet’, and when you set out that 37 billion and when we move forward, it’s got to be a lot simpler. There are lessons that can be learnt from Covid. When we did things like furlough, people understood it, and whoever wins, they’re going to have to come up with something that the public understands, because it comes at a cost and ultimately whatever we do, we’re either gonna have to gain through growth, savings or tax changes further down the line. So we’ve got to make sure that money is well spent and communicated so people can see the tangible difference.”
