Edwina Currie reveals 4 issues that hyperlink Kemi Badenoch with Margaret Thatcher

Kemi Badenoch has been repeatedly compared to Margaret Thatcher since being elected Tory leader – and a former Tory minister has explained why.

Edwina Currie, who served under Ms Thatcher, said the comparisons between Ms Badenoch and the former Conservative Prime Minister are “almost uncanny”. Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, she listed four similarities between the pair – their age, previous jobs, as well as their public speaking and decision-making skills.

Asked if Kemi is the new Thatcher, Ms Currie said: “Up to a point, I think she is and it’s really quite exciting. The comparisons are almost uncanny. You’ve got both women were in their 40s. Margaret was a scientist, which was in itself very unusual in Parliament at the time. Kemi is a computer engineer. My goodness, she could probably take the whole of this place apart and put it back together again.

“That in itself, is really unusual in Parliament, because mostly they are PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) graduates or something like that. And Kemi has a crisp, thoughtful, intelligent way of speaking. She’s really been thinking about ideas and philosophy. I’ve been to the hustings. I listened very hard. I was finding it quite hard at one stage to choose, and then I thought, no, I think Kemi’s really got it. I think she’s quite inspiring and that, in itself, is wonderful.”

Speaking about Ms Thatcher, she added: “She was a real radical and she was great at taking rapid decisions, and I think Kemi is going to be similar in due course, if you came to her with a good proposition, like we did on breast cancer screening, for example, it’s that long ago, and you had the figures, and you’ve got the numbers, and you knew what you were trying to do and what the benefit was going to be, you presented it, you had a half an hour of her time, you came out absolutely exhausted, but you had a ‘yes’ from her. That’s leadership, and that, I think, is what we really need in this country.”

Ms Currie also suggested she believes both Ms Badenoch and Ms Thatcher are both subject to “sexism” in how they are branded as being confrontational.

Former Tory minister Ed Vaizey, who did not vote in the Tory leadership race but said he was a James Cleverly backer, weighed into the debate – but said he didn’t think comparisons to Ms Thatcher were a good thing for Ms Badenoch. He said: “I don’t like these comparisons with Margaret Thatcher, because I think they’re unhelpful to her. They’re unhelpful to the Conservative Party.

“Liz Truss was compared to Margaret Thatcher didn’t do her much good… I think the Conservative Party has to move on and be a part of the 21st century, a party of technology, as Edwina says, Kemi has a technology background. So I think, I think Kemi is the new Kemi.”

Ms Badenoch has said she was “flattered” by comparisons with Ms Thatcher. She said: “The comparisons with Lady Thatcher are flattering, but I am Kemi. I am not her. We have similarities. She was a scientist. I was an engineer, for example.” And she said Ms Thatcher wanted to build a “framework for the future – that is what I want us to do”.