UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy criticised Ms Badenoch‘s comments, writing in a post on X: „It‘s disgraceful you are cheerleading another country for detaining and deporting two British MPs. Do you say the same about Tory MPs banned from China?“
Ms Badenoch retorted, saying: „Unlike China, Israel is our ally and a democracy. A good Foreign Sec would be able to make that distinction.“
In an interview with the BBC‘s Laura Kuenssberg, the Tory leader threw her support behind Israel‘s decision, arguing that „every country should be allowed to police its own borders“.
The MPs were travelling to the occupied West Bank, which the UK government recognises as occupied Palestinian territory.
„If you look at the reasons why the Israeli government has given for why they’re not letting them in, they don’t believe that they’re going to comply with their laws,“ Badenoch added.
The run-off scores from our latest Next Tory Leader survey for all five candidates are as follows –