Trump deserved thrashing in US mid-term election, says Kemi Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch has said Donald Trump deserved to be thrashed in the US midterm elections, as she criticised his handling of the war in Iran, tariffs and threats towards Canada and Greenland. The Conservative leader described the election results as “entirely self-inflicted”, adding: “Voters want results.” She also accused the US President of falling short of the standards expected of a world leader, criticising the way he speaks about others and his “always wanting to get dirty in terms of insults”.

Mrs Badenoch described Trump’s treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House as “awful”. She also said she would have been content if Democratic nominee Kamala Harris had won the 2024 presidential election, adding: “I like them both equally. Make of that what you will.” Read more: Donald Trump replaces Susie Wiles as White House Chief of Staff after midterms hammering Read more: Farage distances himself from Trump as he admits Iran war was a mistake and that US President 'broke promises' In an interview with Independent editor-in-chief Geordie Greig for The Talk Show, Mrs Badenoch said of Trump: “He came in with this extraordinary coalition, Latinos, he had more black voters than any other Republican, and what’s the first thing that he does? ” “Tariffs and then talking about Greenland and Canada and I think a lot of people were wondering, ‘what are you doing?’

She added: “Tariffs are bad for the cost of living, they’re not good, then you have a war in Iran, which, I understand the justification, Iran is an enemy of this country, we don’t want them getting nuclear weapons, but where’s the plan?” Asked whether Trump deserved the scale of his electoral defeat, she said: “Well, yeah. He has not been acting in the way that I would consider conservative." “Where is the push for free markets and better trade and more enforcement of trade rules, rather than protectionism, America first, the squabbling with allies?

That’s not what conservatives do.” She added: “We need to separate President Trump from the United States. The special relationship is with the country. “President Trump is very charming in person, but you see the way that he talks about journalists, about individuals, it doesn’t meet the standards that I think a politician at that level, a statesman should meet – always wanting to get dirty in terms of insults and so on. “When he was rude about Keir Starmer… I didn’t like that at all.”