KEMI Badenoch has said that she would give JK Rowling a peerage.
The Tory leadership candidate praised the Harry Potter author, saying that they have a shared belief when it comes to trans issues.
The shadow communities secretary and former equalities minister also claimed that anti-trans activists had been “attacked relentlessly by all sorts of oddballs and bad people”.
Then, when asked if she would give Rowling a seat in the House of Lords, Badenoch told Talk TV: “I would. I don’t know whether she would take it, but I certainly would give her a peerage.”
Most peers are appointed on the Prime Minister’s advice, although the leaders of opposition parties can technically recommend peers from their parties.
Badenoch’s comments come as her and Tory leadership race rival Robert Jenrick are set to take part in a televised TV debate on GB News tonight (Thursday)..
Badenoch has insisted that despite her lower profile early in the race, she was going to win.
“I think we are going to do this. I am not being complacent,” she told a virtual rally of Tory members held on the platform Teams.
The North West Essex MP added: “I am working hard, I am running a grassroots campaign, not a TV campaign or a media campaign. I am getting out there and I am looking forward to meeting many of you on the campaign trail.”
In a wide-ranging question and answer session with Tory members, she claimed Reform UK and the Lib Dems were “two sides of the same coin” when asked how she would regain voters for the Conservatives.
She insisted the Lib Dems had gained so many seats in Parliament because Reform had split the Tories’ vote, adding: “If we can get our vote back from Reform I think that would tackle quite a lot of the Lib Dem threat that we face. That means being confident Conservatives again.”
But unlike Jenrick (above), who has pitched the leadership contest as a “leave or remain” battle over the ECHR, she said there were pieces of UK law she would like to see reformed first.
Badenoch said: “I think the Human Rights Act, for example, there is a lot that we can do there before looking at international treaties."
She also said there were problems with the Equality Act, which she described as largely a good piece of law, adding: “These are the legacies of (former prime minister Sir Tony) Blair’s constitutional settlement. We can unpick them.”
