Kemi Badenoch: I want to follow Trump and Musk’s efficiency drive

Britain should follow Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s push to make the state more efficient and cut waste, Kemi Badenoch has said.

The Conservative leader hailed the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will be introduced by Mr Trump when he returns to the White House next month.

DOGE will be run by Mr Musk, the billionaire owner of X, and Vivek Ramaswamy, a fellow entrepreneur, and will focus on slashing bureaucracy and restructuring government agencies.

Speaking to The Camilla Tominey Show on GB News, Mrs Badenoch expressed her hope that the US president-elect would succeed in his objectives “because that’s what I want to do”.

“I’m quite excited about what a Trump presidency will bring,” she said. “I’m someone who has been writing endlessly about how we are becoming more bureaucratic as a country, rather than entrepreneurial.

“I’ve written papers, I’ve given speeches on this, and DOGE is basically what I have been talking about. Javier Milei in Argentina also has this thesis that the Western world has just become bogged down in compliance and bureaucracy.

“So it will be interesting to see how President Trump gets on with DOGE and with those plans, because that’s what I want to do.”

“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do, even as business secretary when I put out papers on smarter regulation and I cut audit regulations. These are things that we can do in order to get our economy booming again.”

Mrs Badenoch met JD Vance, the vice-president-elect, in Washington this month as she sought to “renew” her links to the Republican Party, although she is yet to meet Mr Trump.

The Tory leader urged Sir Keir Starmer to prioritise “the big prize” of a free trade deal with the US after Joe Biden shelved negotiations when he took office.

“Right now, with a new Trump presidency, what Keir Starmer should be doing is chasing that US free trade agreement, and we will certainly be pushing for that,” she said.

“The key thing is to make sure you sign a deal that works for both countries, not one that is lopsided, and only the Conservatives would do that.”

Mrs Badenoch also appeared to dismiss members of Reform UK as a Nigel Farage “fan club” in a swipe at the insurgent Right-of-centre party.

“I am about the institution of the Conservative Party. Nigel Farage is an individual personality, he doesn’t even have a membership organisation,” she said.

When it was put to her that Reform had just passed 100,000 members, meaning it was closing in on the Tories’s 130,000 members, Mrs Badenoch replied: “They say that, but what can they do as members?

“My members have a say, they’re part of the organisation, I have to look after them. They’re not my fan club. They are people I have a responsibility to.”

‘Long slog ahead to rebuild trust in Tories’

Warning it would take “the full time in opposition” before the next general election, Mrs Badenoch said there was a “long slog” ahead to rebuild trust in the Conservative brand.

The party went from a landslide victory in December 2019 to returning just 121 MPs at the general election in July amid widespread dissatisfaction with successive Tory governments.

“We need to remember that I’ve been in charge for five weeks and we are talking about a party that has been in government for 14 years,” Mrs Badenoch added.

“It’s going to take time. The assumption that after 14 years, we’re just going to put a lick of paint on it and say ‘ta-da’, it’s not going to be like that. It’s going to be a long slog. I am here for the long haul, I’m not here just to make a few quick speeches and throw gimmicks out.”

In her first few weeks as Tory leader, Mrs Badenoch has refused to make specific policy pledges and instead argued it was more important to start with “first principles”.

On Sunday she once again refused to commit to a cap on net migration, although she said the Tories would eventually arrive at this figure after a detailed analysis of economic need.

She also rejected the suggestion that leaving the European Convention on Human Rights would allow for immediate deportations, citing a “personnel problem” with the Home Office.