'Tone Deaf!' Tories Slammed After Strategy Chief Claims Party Has 'Done The Apologies'
The Conservatives have been accused of being “tone deaf” after the party’s strategy chief claimed they have “done the apologies”.
According to The Telegraph, a leaked recording has revealed that a top ally of leader Kemi Badenoch, Baroness Maclean, told supporters the Tories have “done the mea culpas” now.
Speaking to the Conservative Women’s Organisation on June 18, she said the last government had a “tendency to make announcements without thinking through how they would be delivered.”
But, Maclean – who ran Kemi Badenoch’s leadership campaign – claimed the Tories will now be able to move forward with new policies and rebuild their reputation.
“We’ve done the mea culpas, we’ve done the apologies, we’ve done all that,” she said in the recording.
The Tories were in power for 14 years until they were unceremoniously kicked out of 10 Downing Street in last July’s general election.
Their historic defeat saw them reduced to just 121 MPs.
A year on, the party continue to decline in the polls as voters repeatedly punish them for their time in government.
Pollsters at Ipsos found the Tories were on just 15% in June, a distant third behind their right-wing rivals Reform (34%) and Labour (25%).
The Telegraph’s report comes after Badenoch issued an apology to business leaders, promising they were the “natural party of business”.
She added that she was “sorry if at any time over the last 14 years we did not seem like that.”
Responding to the leaked recording, Labour Party chair Ellie Reeves slammed the Tories for being “out of touch”.
She said: “It shows just how out of touch the Tories are that they believe they have said sorry for their 14 years of failure in government.
“The Conservatives crashed the economy and left working people picking up the tab with sky-high mortgages and rocketing bills. Yet they haven’t apologised even once for their dismal record.
“The Tories’ attitude to the mess they made is completely tone deaf. It’s the same old Tories – they haven’t learned a thing.”
Similarly, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “The Conservatives are completely deluded if they think the public have forgiven or forgotten the mess they’ve left behind.
“This is a slap in the face for families still paying out more for their mortgage because Liz Truss tanked the economy.
“Kemi Badenoch should urgently confirm whether she agrees with her own senior official on this, or if she will properly apologise to all those who suffered due to years of Conservative chaos under the government in which she served.”