Kemi Badenoch says she doesn’t want to oust Rishi Sunak and rebels ‘not my friends’

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch is being talked up in Westminster as a possible successor to flailing Rishi Sunak as panicking Tories discuss installing a new leader

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Kemi Badenoch tells Tory rebels to “stop messing around” and supports Rishi Sunak

Kemi Badenoch has insisted she doesn’t want to topple Rishi Sunak and told Tory plotters to “stop messing around”.

The Business and Trade Secretary is being talked up in Westminster as a possible successor to the flailing Prime Minister, as disgruntled Tories discussed ousting Mr Sunak and installing her as leader. It comes after a week of bitter Tory rows, which exploded into public view when ex-Cabinet Minister Sir Simon Clarke urged Tories to ditch Mr Sunak or risk being “massacred” at the election.

He received public criticism from Conservative MPs for his intervention but behind the scenes, a loosely organised group of Tories appears to be plotting his downfall. Rebels, including former No10 aide Will Dry, are said to be behind a mega-poll predicting electoral oblivion for the Tories under Mr Sunak’s leadership.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch was challenged over rumours the Tory rebels want to oust Rishi Sunak and install her as PM

Asked if she put the rebels up to it, Ms Badenoch told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday: “A lot of people who are going around doing this are creating problems and difficulties that the party and more importantly the country does not need. I fully support the Prime Minister.”

She added: “They need to stop messing around and get behind the leader. The fact of the matter is most of the people in the country are not interested in all of this Westminster tittle tattle. And frankly the people who keep putting my name in there are not my friends.”

Ms Badenoch said the rebels were just “stirring” and the majority of Tory MPs supported the Prime Minister. She added: “We can’t keep treating Prime Ministers as if they are disposable. Oh, the polls aren’t doing so well, so let’s toss someone else and find another person’ – that’s quite wrong.”

She added: “We should not be trying to drag out prime ministers on the basis of a popularity contest and polling on websites.”

Ms Badenoch, who is the most popular Cabinet minister according to Tory bible ConservativeHome, ran to be Tory leader when Boris Johnson was ousted. An outsider candidate, she performed better than expected, coming fourth behind Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak and winner Liz Truss. She threw her weight behind Mr Sunak in the fast-tracked contest to succeed to Ms Truss in November.

In another interview with the BBC, she failed to say whether she still harboured leadership ambitions. “You never know these things until you’re in the moment,” she said.