Kemi Badenoch dismisses Labour 'whining and hypocrisy' over her 'spiteful class warrior' jibe at Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson

By JAMES TAPSFIELD, UK POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 10:46, 25 June 2026 | Updated: 10:52, 25 June 2026 The brutal war of words between Kemi Badenoch and Bridget Phillipson escalated again today as the Tory leader dismissed Labour 'whining' about her jibe that the Education Secretary is a 'spiteful class warrior'. Ms Phillipson has said she will get the barb printed on a T-shirt in the wake of the extraordinary dust-up in the House of Commons yesterday, accusing Mrs Badenoch of 'sinking lower and lower'. But the Conservative leader made clear she is not backing down, ridiculing the cries of outrage as 'hypocrisy'. She pointed out that minutes before the PMQs clash Ms Phillipson had accused Tory frontbencher Nick Timothy of being racist for questioning mass Muslim prayers in Trafalgar Square. Mrs Badenoch said: 'The hordes of Labour MPs rushing to Twitter to whine about me calling her 'spiteful' are just exposing their own hypocrisy. They love to dish it but they can't take it.' The Opposition leader used PMQs yesterday to target a slew of Cabinet ministers in her first exchanges with Keir Starmer since he announced his resignation. In the chamber, Mrs Badenoch said of Ms Phillipson: 'She taxed private schools to pay for more teachers, but the number of teachers has gone down. 'Appointing a spiteful class warrior as Education Secretary was a disaster.' Kemi Badenoch has dismissed Labour 'whining' about her jibe that Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is a 'spiteful class warrior' The Tory leader and Ms Phillipson were involved in a furious dust-up in the House of Commons on Wednesday Mrs Badenoch also hit out at Chancellor Rachel Reeves for letting down the PM, and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband for 'treachery' towards Sir Keir. A Tory source said the angry exchanges continued after MPs left the chamber, as Ms Phillipson 'aimed a barb at Kemi', to which Mrs Badenoch shot back: 'I will fight you all the way, you're destroying children's lives.' But a source close to the Education Secretary said that was a 'confected' account of the row. They claimed Ms Phillipson and Science Secretary Liz Kendall were in the Commons division lobby to vote when the latter confronted Mrs Badenoch over her earlier 'outrageous' comments at PMQs. The Tory leader is then said to have ignored Ms Kendall while saying to Ms Phillipson: 'You are spiteful. I'm never going to stop talking about how spiteful you are.' The source added that the Education Secretary told the Tory leader: 'The public are going to find out who you really are.' The row between the two continued on social media on Wednesday afternoon, with Ms Phillipson posting on X: 'Kemi lost her head at PMQs - and afterwards too. It's not the first time. 'She's compared me to a Gestapo officer. I wonder what it is about a working-class woman driving record investment in state schools by ending private schools' tax breaks that the Tories hate so much.' In reply, Mrs Badenoch posted: 'I grew up on a council estate' is not an excuse for failure. You are sacrificing the future of generations of kids on the altar of your class envy. 'I speak for those people whose lives you're destroying and I'll NEVER stop speaking up for them.' In an interview with the Mirror on Thursday, Ms Phillipson said: 'Kemi Badenoch seems to have a problem with those of us who are proud of where we're from, proud to be working class, proud to be state school educated. 'It's a badge of pride that people like Kemi Badenoch call me a spiteful class warrior. 'If being a spiteful class warrior means lifting children out of poverty, delivering better life chances at school, investing in the support that our young people need, then I will wear that as a badge of honour. 'It says more about her that she sinks to this level. Every passing week at Prime Minister's Questions, she sinks lower and lower, completely devoid of any kind of grace.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.