Kemi Badenoch's leadership campaign is at risk of "unravelling" due to her decision to pursue "punch-ups" when she faces criticism, top Tory figures have told GB News.
The former Business Secretary, who is seen as the frontrunner to succeed Rishi Sunak as Tory leader, is receiving a backlash after appearing rattled by several negative stories in recent weeks.
Badenoch, 44, took to social media to post lengthy tirades accusing leadership rivals of playing "dirty tricks" and claimed an article pointing out her previous stance on immigration was "clutching at straws".
She also slammed reports of "bullying" and criticised journalists for pointing out she missed Saturday's northern hustings to go on holiday.
The North West Essex MP is looking to court support from Conservative MPs ahead of the first ballot on September 4.
However, Tory sources have suggested Badenoch is at risk of blowing up her campaign with further outbursts.
Kemi Badenoch's leadership bid at risk of 'unravelling' as frontrunner pursues 'punch-ups' ahead of first ballotGETTYA Conservative MP told GB News: "If you want to be Tory leader, you have to be able to handle criticism.
"You can't throw a strop on Twitter every time someone writes something negative."
"The wheels will come off with Kemi very quickly," a former Tory Government adviser added. "She's very headstrong but it's too confrontational. It's not just her professionally, it's her personally.
"You understand her more once you know that. But, like Liz, she's just going to isolate her colleagues and herself."
A top Tory also claimed: "The best of Kemi is better than the best of all of the other leadership contenders but that's only 10 per cent of her.
"She goes from feeling sorry for herself to wanting a punch-up. It's all going to unravel."
Despite being seen as the frontrunner, Badenoch's public supporters amount to less than those backing ex-Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick.
But Badenoch will rest-assured she can count on the support of some of her supporters from the 2022 leadership race.
The 44-year-old was eliminated in the fourth-round two years ago, receiving support from 59 Conservative colleagues.
And no leadership contender is yet to get out of single-figures, with runners and riders soon being eliminated one-by-one in ballots held from September 4.
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Ballots of MPs will take place until four contenders remain in the race.
CCHQ has ensured the top four Tory leadership hopefuls will participate in a beauty parade at the upcoming Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.
MPs will then whittle down the contenders to two, before members decide who should succeed Sunak.
Badenoch tops ConservativeHome's Shadow Cabinet popularity table and sees off her rivals in the website's leadership poll.
She received the backing of 33 per cent of respondents, giving her a 14-point lead over nearest hopeful Jenrick.
The 2024 leadership campaign has so far been fairly uneventful, with 1922 Committee chairman Bob Blackman enforcing a strict "yellow card" system to dissuade MPs from any "blue-on-blue" attacks.
However, Badenoch has found herself making a number of outbursts since Sunak confirmed he would look to hand over the baton after the disastrous result from last month's general election.
The North West Essex MP was at the heart of some short-lived drama involving long-time leadership hopeful and friend Suella Braverman.
Badenoch, who organised Braverman's hen-night, used a Shadow Cabinet meeting to accuse the former Home Secretary of having a "very public" nervous breakdown.
She soon after claimed another leadership campaign was using "dirty tricks" by spreading "dishonest" claims about her in a dossier.
The dossier included a series of confrontational comments made by a profile named "Kemi" on a Nigerian website in the mid-2000s.
Badenoch, who was raised by Nigerian parents in Wimbledon, was accused of calling ex-Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott a "hypocrite".
Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch locked horns last month
PA
She was on the offensive yet again just a few days later amid a series of allegations accusing the North West Essex MP of "bullying" staff through "sustained and personal" treatment.
Badenoch said: "Let's be clear: these allegations are smears from former staff who I sacked after they were accused of bullying behaviour, lying about other colleagues to cover up their own failures and general gross incompetence.
"Intolerable behaviour I would not stand for. The Business Department has confirmed to The Guardian there were no complaints about me and no investigations. It's all utterly false."
She later opted to label an article by The Sun highlighting how she welcomed relaxed migration measures to remove annual limits on visas and international students as "clutching at straws".
"Pretending that public statements (on party policy from three elections ago!) are new ‘bombshell’ revelations is clutching at straws”, she wrote.
Criticisms of Badenoch continued after she opted to skip last weekend's Tory leadership hustings in North Yorkshire to jet off on holiday with her family.
Badenoch confirmed she would miss the event in Yarm in a statement but pointed out she visited Teesside on August 7.
Following the hustings, a Tory source told GB News: "You have to ask yourself how much she wants it?
"Five out of six of the leadership contenders attended the northern hustings but she chose to go on holiday."
In a subsequent statement, Badenoch took aim at journalists for reporting on her decision to miss the event.
She said: "Articles portraying politicians negatively for having a family life have done much to toxify the environment for MPs.
James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick attended Saturday's hustings
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"We can do better than this. It was a pleasure to be one of the first candidates to the North East earlier this month.
"With over 100 invitations to speak, I’ll be back again touring the country after I’ve had time with my family who I promised a holiday - I’m keeping that promise."
Ex-Tory MPs Alex Stafford, Conor Burns and Bob Seely all openly voiced support for Badenoch's decision to go on holiday, claiming it was Conservative to put family first and important to take a break.
Labour MP Florence Eshalomi also expressed her support for Badenoch's decision, arguing: "Breaking a promise to children is every parent and carers worst nightmare as those children will deal with you."
A Badenoch-supporting Tory claimed the former Business Secretary has been right to call out criticism more broadly.
"I don't think she is rattled," they told GB News. "I think Kemi is holding her ground and calling out unfair and unfounded criticism.
"Whilst many might have come to accept 'dirty tricks' in politics, Kemi's drawing a line in the sand."
Badenoch, who yesterday doubled-down on her criticisms of identity politics in The Mail on Sunday, had a totemic rise through Tory ranks after appearing frank, unapologetic and combative in exchanges since first entering the House of Commons in 2017.
She voiced concern about trans guidance in schools, proposed changes to the Equality Act to protect women and claimed critical race theory confuses blackness with "victimhood".
Kemi Badenoch
PAThe Shadow Levelling Up Secretary has also had run-ins with ex-Post Office chairman Henry Staunton, ally-turned-foe Michael Gove and former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.
However, the latest notable attacks have been directed at two rather different characters.
Ex-Doctor Who star David Tennant was embroiled in a bitter spat with Badenoch after saying he wanted a world where the ex-Equalities Minister "doesn't exist any more".
Firing back, Badenoch said: "I will not shut up. I will not be silenced by men who prioritise applause from Stonewall over the safety of women and girls.
"A rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can't see the optics of attacking the only black woman in Government by calling publicly for my existence to end."
The North West Essex MP also locked horns with Levelling Up Secretary Angela Rayner upon returning to the House of Commons after the general election.
Delivering some rather unpleasant home truths, Badenoch told the Deputy Prime Minister: "All the stuff the Secretary of State worked on in opposition, like the New Deal for Workers, has been taken off her and given to the Business Secretary.
"I’m sorry to tell the right honourable lady that her colleagues – the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and their many advisers – have written a manifesto and made promises that are not deliverable, and they’ve hung it around her neck and said ‘Angela, you go out there and you sell it’.
"I’m sad to see many of her Shadow team not sitting beside her as Ministers. They worked for free, grinding in opposition for years, only to watch the children of the Chosen Ones to get the ministerial cars and salaries before their maiden speeches are written."
GB News has approached Badenoch for comment.
