Kemi Badenoch insists Tory party ‘works well together’ then tells MPs to get behind Sunak

Trade secretary Kemi Badenoch has insisted that the party “works very well together” despite reports of an internal plot to oust Rishi Sunak.

Ms Badenoch said on Monday infighting was “just part and parcel of politics” and that we “need to move away from disagreements being portrayed as plots or rows”.

“The facts are that the party works very well together,” she told LBC. “Yes of course, there will be some people who are unhappy, I’m not going to deny that.”

The cabinet minister also dismissed the row over Tory donor Frank Hester’s alleged comments about Diane Abbott as “trivial” and said the businessman – who donated £10m to the Conservative party last year – should not have the money returned.

When asked if the party should return the money, Ms Badenoch said: “I’m actually quite surprised that people suggest this. This was something that happened five years ago. He wasn’t talking to Diane Abbott. It wasn’t even really about Diane Abbott. He used her in a reference that was completely unacceptable. He’s apologised for it.

“I think that it is far more important that we accept the apology and not moving on is taking too much attention away from what is actually meaningful to the people around the country.”

Ms Badenoch was the first cabinet minister to label Mr Hester’s comments “racist” after it was revealed by the Guardian that he had said Ms Abbott made him “want to hate all black women” and said she should be “shot”.

But the cabinet minister today called the comments “trivial” and said the businessman’s comments were “in no way reflective of the work that he has been doing while we have taken his money.”

She said: “Now, this is trivial Nick. I’m sorry, but I really do believe it is.

“If you look at the work that this government has been doing to tackle racism, when you look at the really serious issues that people have around violence, around life chances, what this man may or may not have said five years ago, in private, in a casual reference, racist though the comments as reported were, I am afraid is not really in the high priorities of how we deal with racism in this country.”

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