Badenoch on ‘Evil Plotters’ Whatsapp group

KEMI BADENOCH is a member of a Whatsapp group of Conservative MPS called “Evil Plotters”, it has emerged following her criticisms of those attempting to oust Rishi Sunak.

The Business Secretary said last weekend she “fully supported” the Prime Minister amid reports some of his Tory critics want to install her in Downing Street.

Mrs Badenoch is the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed Mr Sunak as Conservative leader and she has the highest net satisfaction of any Cabinet minister among readers of Conservativehome, a Tory opinion website. Last night, The Guardian reported that Mrs Badenoch and Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary and a key backer of her 2022 leadership campaign, have both messaged the group chat in recent weeks.

Tory insiders were quoted by the newspaper as suggesting she had a “campaign ready” in the event of Mr Sunak’s political demise and a team of MPS was ready to “leap into action”.

The group chat name Evil Plotters is likely to be an ironic reference to The Plot, a book by Nadine Dorries, a former culture secretary and staunch supporter of Boris Johnson. In its pages, she accused Mrs Badenoch, who resigned as Mr Johnson’s equalities minister in the wake of the Chris Pincher affair, of playing a role in his downfall and “manoeuvring at the direction of her puppet masters”. On The Camilla Tominey Show on GB News on Sunday, Mrs Badenoch insisted “almost everything” in The Plot was “nonsense” and said it was “insulting” to suggest she was incapable of making her own decisions.

During an interview with Sky News, she insisted those linking her to leadership speculation were “not her friends”.

Asked about Sir Simon Clarke, a former housing secretary, demanding Mr Sunak’s resignation last week, she told those minded to move against the Prime Minister to “stop messing around” before praising Mr Sunak’s work ethic.

A spokesman for Mrs Badenoch did not deny the existence or name of the Whatsapp group.