Overview
- At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Kemi Badenoch challenged Sir Keir Starmer by referencing reports that Labour MPs were being called a 'paedo defenders party'.
- Speaking on LBC later that day, she said she would 'absolutely not apologise' and pointed to past Labour posters she said accused Rishi Sunak of supporting paedophiles.
- She said the phrase was not her wording and attributed it to a female Labour MP, adding that 'nobody would be calling them that if they held themselves to higher standards.'
- Labour MP and survivor Natalie Fleet criticised the language as 'just really disgusting' and warned it could put activists in danger.
- Katie Amess described the remark as 'very inflammatory' and called for an apology, while on Thursday Sir Keir Starmer declined to respond to the jibe during a North East visit, focusing his comments on cost-of-living measures.