Badenoch calls Greens anti-Semitic and defends pensions triple lock as Green leaders stay silent
At the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Kemi Badenoch called the Green Party anti-Semitic over its Zionism vote and defended the pensions triple lock, as Green leaders stayed silent.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Green Party row
At the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Kemi Badenoch criticised the Green Party after its members voted in favour of defining Zionism as racism, and defended the Conservatives' pensions triple lock.
The Conservative leader said she was appalled by the Green Party's conference motion. Asked whether she was a proud Zionist, she said that if that meant supporting the state of Israel and its right to self-determination, then yes, she did. She said she believed in a two-state solution. She rejected the Green Party's suggestion that supporting the existing state of Israel made her racist, saying the party was full of anti-Semites and that its actions were disgusting and shameful. She said she was embarrassed that a political party in the country would do something like that.
The conference takes place with the Conservatives trailing Reform in third place, though Badenoch is more popular than her party.
Blake Stevenson
Badenoch also stood by Home Office spokesman Blake Stevenson over comments that parts of Luton are no-go zones where white people will not go. She said that if he was saying they are no-go zones, he would have a reason for that, and that she was happy to stand by him.
Economy and pensions
On the economy, she said her priority was to turn the economy from a plodding donkey into a racer. She is expected to announce a cut in inheritance tax tomorrow. The interview also covered her plan to give free childcare to households with incomes above 200,000 pounds. Critics suggested the policy was not designed to win back Reform voters, many of whom have lower incomes. Badenoch defended it by saying there should not be a cliff edge where a one pound pay rise costs families tens of thousands of pounds in childcare support. She said this affected teachers, including deputy heads who want to become head teachers, and that the aim was not to punish people for earning money but to reward working harder.
Asked about the pensions triple lock, Badenoch said there were respectable arguments on both sides. When it was put to her that there were not many respectable arguments on her side, she repeated that there were arguments on both sides. She said the triple lock was Conservative policy and that the party's choice was to focus on people who can work but do not work.
Green leadership silence
The Green Party leadership has so far avoided addressing the Zionism row on camera. Its leader, Zack Polanski, has not done so, and its deputy, Mothin Ali, was equally tight-lipped today.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Kemi Badenoch accused the Green Party of being full of anti-Semites. | |
| Kemi Badenoch defended a Home Office spokesman over comments that parts of Luton are no-go zones. | |
| Kemi Badenoch stated that the pensions triple lock is Conservative policy. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
ITV1 led on its sit-down interview with Kemi Badenoch at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. It gave the most space to her attack on the Greens over their Zionism motion, her defence of the pensions triple lock and her backing for Blake Stevenson, while also pressing her on childcare and noting the Green leadership's silence. The tone was mostly neutral, but the questioning was sceptical about the Tories' economic credibility and their position behind Reform.
- “I think that the Green Party is full of a lot of people who are anti-Semites and are quite frankly not okay.”
- “The triple lock is our policy.”
- “If Blake Stevenson is saying they're no-go zones he will have a reason for that and I'm sure that he can explain it so I'm very happy to stand by him.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.