Kemi Badenoch hails Reform UK voters as 'our people' - before taking huge swipe at Farage

Badenoch also argued it was not racist to be worried about immigration, but would not disclose a cap on legal net migration into the UK.

And she claimed that leftwing politicians take issue with her because she is a "repudiation" of everything they believe in "physically, personally" and will not play the victim.

In a wide ranging interview with GB News' Political Editor Christopher Hope on Chopper's Political Podcast, Badenoch said she would aim to win back Tory voters lost to Reform at the July 4 general election.

She said: "One of the mistakes we made was making Reform voters think that they were not our people. They are our people. Many of the people who voted reform were lifelong Tory voters."

Badenoch argued it was wrong to remove the Tory whip from Lee Anderson, which effectively forced him into the arms of the Reform Party.

She argued: "And I think one of the moments that really created that impression was when we removed the whip from Lee Anderson. I think that was a mistake."

Badenoch added: "I told the chief whip, do not do this. This is a bad, bad decision. That was a huge mistake. And that lit the torch paper basically are saying we don't want these kind of people to get them out."

Asked by GB News' political editor Christopher Hope if she thought Farage was a Tory, Badenoch said: "I think that he is a disruptor. But he has said that he wants to destroy the Conservative Party, so I think that's probably a no."

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Elsewhere in the interview, Badenoch said that leftwing politicians could not understand why she is a Conservative, given her background and upbringing.

She said: "I am a repudiation just physically, personally in how I look, what I do, what I say. I am a repudiation of everything they believe in, that the world is split into oppressor groups and victim groups.

"And if you're a victim group, you're not you're not allowed to go out and say that. And people are always telling me 'you're not supposed to do this, you're not supposed to do that. You're not allowed to say this'.

"And I don't listen. And that's going back to the point about when people say she's not collegiate. It's because I don't do as I'm told."

Unlike her leadership rival Robert Jenrick, Badenoch declined to put a figure on how many migrants the UK should allow to settle legally every year.

She instead claimed that suggestions of a cap were "a fake argument, because if you have net migration, say 10,000 and you've got 10,000 terrorists coming in, that's no good".

"It's about who you want to bring in to the country, who's coming in. There's no point if good people are leaving and bad people are coming in and saying, oh, well, we've met the target."

Asked if it is "racist" to be concerned about immigration, she said: "I'm worried about immigration. Lots of people who've just come into the country are worried.

"Asylum seekers are worried about immigration because the people they're running from are also claiming asylum. We should all be worried about it because it matters for our future."

Badenoch said she would pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights "if that's what we needed to control borders".

However, the Brexit-backing former Business Secretary added: "What I'm not doing is making a commitment on that, because even if we did that now, it wouldn't solve things.

"Listen to Christopher Hope's interview with Kemi Badenoch on Chopper's Political Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or watch it on GB News' YouTube channel.