Badenoch WhatsApps: Lib Dems demand Cabinet Office investigation

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a Cabinet Office investigation into whether Kemi Badenoch is using taxpayers' money to fund a covert leadership campaign. 

The Guardian reported that one of Badenoch's advisors, former chief of the TaxPayers' Alliance James Roberts, has joined the Business and Trade Secretary's team as a special advisor, with sources suggesting that he is "still working on leadership stuff" despite his official role. 

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the Cabinet Office to investigate and establish the exact nature of Roberts' role and whether any taxpayers' money is being used to fund any potential work on a future leadership bid.

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Daisy Cooper MP said:

"The Cabinet Office must urgently investigate whether any taxpayer money is being used to fund a potential leadership plot by Kemi Badenoch's office.

"We also need know if a senior Minister is actively destabilising the government. This is no way to govern. The British public are fed up of this Conservative soap opera.

“Ministers should be focused on tackling the huge crises facing the British people, like the NHS crisis and the cost of living, not plotting and scheming for yet another Conservative leadership election.

"We need a general election to end this tax-hiking, sewage pumping government."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The reporting by the Guardian can be found here.