Kemi Badenoch has warned against Britain becoming a “poodle” to Donald Trump, while promising to rebuild the country’s defences if she became prime minister amid mounting global instability.
The Tory leader also took aim at Reform UK, saying the party is “afraid to speak seriously about hostile states”.
Her comments come amid growing global instability, with Donald Trump threatening to hit the UK and Europe with fresh tariffs over their opposition to his threats to annex Greenland.
Meanwhile, Ms Badenoch’s party has suffered a difficult week after Robert Jenrick dramatically defected to Reform.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Ms Badenoch warned Britain must invest in its defences in order to avoid being seen as weak on the international stage.
“Getting Britain working again means fixing our economy and fixing our country, and that means putting our national interest first and rebuilding our defences.
“Otherwise we will end up being poodles as the US annexes Greenland and we’re slapped with tariffs because we have not shown any strength”, she said.
It comes after Mr Trump used a post on Truth Social to announce that 10 per cent tariffs would come into effect on 1 February on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland.
Those tariffs would increase to 25 per cent on 1 June and would continue until a deal is reached for the US to purchase Greenland, Mr Trump said in the long-winded post, warning that China and Russia both want to control Greenland, which he claimed only the US can prevent.
Ms Badenoch also hit out at Mr Jenrick’s “narrow, inward-looking and performative” defection speech, noting that it failed to mention foreign affairs.
Earlier this week, Mr Jenrick used his speech to launch a stunning attack on his former party, saying it had “betrayed its voters and members” and was “in denial – or being dishonest” about its record.
But the Tory leader noted that the speech contained “nothing about Russia’s war in Europe, nothing about China’s growing economic and security penetration and nothing about Iran, North Korea, cyber warfare, AI, or the erosion of the rules-based order”.
“Reform presents itself as insurgent and anti-establishment, yet it displays no serious interest in national security at all.
“It’s not just the fact that their leader in Wales was taking bribes from Russia, but that they are afraid to speak seriously about hostile states, alliances, defence, intelligence, or economic security, and when they aren’t afraid they don’t know what to say”, she added.
Taking aim at Sir Keir Starmer’s approach to foreign policy, Ms Badenoch said his “failure on national security is different” to that of Reform, “but just as dangerous”.
She said that the PM “speaks in abstractions while allowing Chinese state influence in universities and infrastructure, Chinese intimidation and espionage on British soil and strategic ambiguity on foreign policy, that wills the ends of a rules-based framework but not the means, believing diplomacy alone will win”.
