Top London Tory Andrew Boff on Tuesday slammed the party’s leadership contenders over their stances on gay rights, singling out Kemi Badenoch for being “obsessed with genitals”.
The London Assembly chairman is a patron of the Conservatives’ LGBT+ group who was last year thrown out of a conference speech by the then home secretary, Suella Braverman, when he protested at her comments on transgender people.
Interviewed by the Standard at this year’s conference in Birmingham, Mr Boff condemned Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat for calling for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, which he said protected gay rights.
To start singling out any groups for lesser treatment “is the start of a very, very sinister road, and that’s why [Winston] Churchill brought in the ECHR [after WWII] to ensure that this never happens in Europe again”, he said.
James Cleverly was not credible for calling for the return of the “bonkers” Rwanda deportation plan, according to the London Conservative, who added that none of the four contenders had apologised for the party’s mistakes in government.
He singled out Ms Badenoch, who held the role of equalities minister until the Tories were thrown out in the July election, and who has been locked in a war of words with Doctor Who actor David Tennant after he attacked her over trans rights.
“I don't think she likes LGBT people, but that's a personal view,” he said.
The Assembly member alleged she never reached out to the party’s LGBT+ group when in office despite formulating policy in the area, saying that showed she was “someone who isn’t really going to listen to the party”.
“Kemi Badenoch is obsessed by genitals, and she's got to wise up to the fact that the world is not a binary place, that there are flavours of gender expression.”
Mr Boff said the party should adopt an elected chair to oversee a root-and-branch rebuilding after the election, saying: “Our party at the grassroots is dying.”
He added: “None of them have said sorry for the mistakes that we made in government, but if any single one of them says that they will introduce an elected chair of the Conservative Party, I'll vote for them.”
Ms Badenoch’s campaign was contacted for comment.
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