KEMI Badenoch said thousands of civil servants should be jailed — as bookies claim the race to be Tory leader is tightening.
The firebrand let rip at Whitehall, telling a party conference fringe event: “There’s about five to ten per cent of them who are very, very bad — you know should be in prison bad, leaking official secrets, undermining ministers, agitating.”
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Claiming she had faced it in her department, the former Business Secretary added: “The trick to being a good minister is to find the good ones quickly, bring them close and try and get the bad ones out of your department as quickly as possible.”
The four leadership contenders are each preparing 20-minute speeches for party members in Birmingham.
Ex-Home Secretary James Cleverly’s odds were shortening last night — as the two front-runners Robert Jenrick and Badenoch faced backlashes over outspoken claims.
Bookies have Jenrick as favourite at 8/11, with the winner to be announced at the start of November.
Mr Cleverly is seen as the big mover of the week in the betting at 7/2, shortening from 12/1 last week, Betfair said.
Today Ms Badenoch will insist “wealth is not a dirty word” when she makes her direct pitch to membership.
She will hail the British entrepreneurial spirit, seen as essential to pay for a better NHS and education system.
Meanwhile, Mr Jenrick will reject mass migration, focus on cheap and reliable energy and get the country building.
In his address today, he will say: “If we’re to restore the public’s trust, we must build something new — a new Conservative Party.”
Team Badenoch last night claimed she was joking over the jailing comments.
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