UK Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch: Trump's Midterm Defeat Was Entirely Self-Inflicted
LONDON — Kemi Badenoch, leader of Britain's Conservative Party, said in an interview published by The Independent on November 7 that U.S. President Donald Trump's heavy defeat in the midterm elections was "entirely self-inflicted," and denounced his "dirty" style of politics.
In the interview, conducted by The Independent's editor-in-chief Geordie Greig, Badenoch was asked whether Trump deserved to be thrashed in the midterms. "Yeah. He has not been acting in the way that I would consider conservative," she replied. "Voters want results," she said. Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress in the midterms, flipping at least seven Senate seats and more than two dozen House districts.
Badenoch criticised Trump's handling of the Iran war, his threats towards Canada and Greenland, his sweeping tariffs and his squabbles with allies including the UK, saying his approach had abandoned the free-market and better-trade principles conservatives prize.
On Trump's personal conduct, she said: "Trump is very charming in person, but you see the way that he talks about journalists, about individuals. It doesn't meet the standards a statesman should meet — always wanting to get dirty in terms of insults and so on." She said she particularly disliked his rudeness about British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and called the White House's treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "awful."
Asked about the 2024 election, Badenoch said she would have been content if Democratic candidate Kamala Harris had won instead. "People ask me who did I prefer, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump? I would say I like them both equally. Make of that what you will," she said.
Badenoch has led the Conservative Party and served as Leader of the Opposition since November 2024. British media described the remarks — from a fellow Western conservative — as an unusually sweeping attack on Trump.
(Source: The Independent)
Source: The Independent
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：英国保守党领袖 Kemi Badenoch 2024 年官方肖像（英国议会下议院／Roger Harris 摄，CC BY 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons）。 / Photo: Official portrait of Kemi Badenoch MP, 2024 (House of Commons / Roger Harris, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
