Mel Stride denies policy split with Kemi Badenoch over shadow chancellor exit

Mel Stride has denied that policy disagreements with Kemi Badenoch were behind his departure as shadow chancellor, in his first BBC Two Politics Live interview since leaving the role. Asked whether he was surprised to lose the job, he said he was a member of a team and was on the programme to fight for what he believed in. Asked directly whether he lost the job because of policy disagreements with Badenoch, he said: 'Kemi and I are on the same page.'

On BBC Two, Stride said Badenoch had praised his performance in the role and pointed to the Conservatives' economic credibility. He said the party had been ahead of every other party in polling on who would be trusted with the economy at the time, and that Badenoch was taking the party in the right direction. He added that a united Conservative Party under her leadership had 'every chance of winning the next general election'.

BBC Two also played criticism from Andy Burnham, who said Badenoch had removed a shadow chancellor who called the mini-budget a mistake and replaced him with one who helped to repair it. Stride said it was very nice of Burnham to say such nice things about him, but 'as with a lot of things Andy says, I'm afraid there's a little bit more to it than meets the eye'.

In the same BBC Two interview, when asked about Andrew Griffith, who replaced him, and Griffith's past backing for the mini-budget, Stride said the Conservative Party was fiscally responsible. He cited planned savings across government of over £70 billion and a 'golden economic rule' that at least half must go to paying down the deficit and therefore the debt. He also said a welfare reduction proposal that would cause homelessness and increase public spending would not be fiscally responsible.