Florida governor and US presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis has hailed Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch for her efforts to make sure “woke ideology” is not “corrupting British society”.
The Florida governor met with Ms Badenoch, as well as Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, during a trip to Britain as he seeks to burnish his credentials ahead of a possible run against Donald Trump to be the Republican choice in the race for the White House.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr DeSantis commended Ms Badenoch, who is also the minister for women and equalities, for being outspoken on issues such as gender-neutral lavatories and the decolonisation of school curricula.
He describes “woke ideology” as “a war on the truth”, telling the paper: “When institutions get infected by woke ideology, it really corrupts the institutions.
“We look at woke infiltrating schools as a problem, woke infiltrating bureaucracies as a problem and woke infiltrating corporate America as a problem.
“We say that Florida is where woke goes to die.”
During his meeting with Ms Badenoch, Mr DeSantis said she “complimented what we are doing in Florida”.
“She committed that it is what they are trying to do in Britain.,” he said.
“I commend her and her efforts to make sure that this is not corrupting British society.”
In a post on Twitter following the meeting, Mr DeSantis’s press secretary Bryan Griffin wrote: “Today @GovRonDeSantis met with @KemiBadenoch, who has been branded by British media as the “Anti-woke darling of the right” (a badge of honor!) Two great conservative fighters on mission.”
Earlier, the conservative firebrand and Mr Cleverly discussed ties between Britain and the US state he represents while visiting the Foreign Office.
Mr DeSantis has not announced his intention to run for the Republican nomination but is widely expected to do so.
In his interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he also addressed speculation over his potential run at the White House, telling the paper: “I’m going to go through our legislative session, get the people’s business done. I’m still in the midst of that.
“I’ve got about another week or so of that, and then I have the Budget and everything. I’m not going to make any decision before then.
“But the end of that time is coming, it’s closer now than it was six months ago. So just stay tuned.”
