‘It shows just how out of touch the Tories are that they believe they have said sorry for their 14 years of failure in government.’
The Tories are being mocked after Kemi Badenoch’s closest aide said that the party is done apologising for the mistakes made during the Conservatives’ 14 years in power.
Badenoch’s director of strategy Baroness Rachel Maclean said in a leaked recording that the Tories have “done the mea culpas, we’ve done the apologies, we’ve done all that”.
Maclean, who lost her seat at the 2024 election but was given a life peerage last December, also said that the Tories “must now look to the future” and rebuild their reputation for competence and trust.
The Tories lost 251 seats a year ago, including those of 12 cabinet ministers and former prime minister Liz Truss, in the party’s worst-ever election defeat.
Responding to Maclean’s comments which were reported in The Telegraph, Labour Party chair Ellie Reeves said: “It shows just how out of touch the Tories are that they believe they have said sorry for their 14 years of failure in govt.
“Their attitude to the mess they made is completely tone deaf. It’s the same old Tories – they haven’t learned a thing.”
Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper also slammed Maclean’s remarks. She said: “The Conservatives are completely deluded if they think the public have forgiven or forgotten the mess they’ve left behind.
“This is a slap in the face for families still paying out more for their mortgage because Liz Truss tanked the economy.
“Kemi Badenoch should urgently confirm whether she agrees with her own senior official on this, or if she will properly apologise to all those who suffered due to years of Conservative chaos under the government in which she served.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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