Badenoch and Phillipson clash over school fees in heated parliamentary exchange

Kemi Badenoch and Bridget Phillipson engaged in a heated exchange following Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, with the Conservative minister accusing the Education Secretary of "destroying children's lives." The confrontation occurred as the two politicians left the House of Commons chamber.

During PMQs, Badenoch had branded Phillipson a "spiteful class warrior" for the imposition of VAT on private school fees. Badenoch also criticized Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

Sources described the exchanges continuing after PMQs, with Badenoch reportedly involved in a stand-up row with both Phillipson and Science Secretary Liz Kendall. A Conservative source claimed Phillipson "aimed a barb at Kemi" after PMQs, to which Badenoch responded, "I will fight you all the way, you're destroying children's lives."

However, a source close to Phillipson characterized the account as "confected," stating that was not what she said. This source indicated that Phillipson and Kendall were in the Commons division lobby when Kendall confronted Badenoch over her "outrageous" PMQs comments. According to this account, Badenoch ignored Kendall and told Phillipson, "You are spiteful, I'm never going to stop talking about how spiteful you are." Phillipson reportedly replied, "The public are going to find out who you really are."

Earlier, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle had called for "a little bit more decorum and respect" after Badenoch's "spiteful class warrior" remark about Phillipson during PMQs. A Tory source attributed the Speaker's intervention to Badenoch telling the Labour benches, "They don't like it up them." Conversely, the source close to Phillipson insisted the Speaker intervened due to Badenoch's language directed at the Education Secretary, adding, "The Tories are lying."

During the parliamentary session, Badenoch had stated that Phillipson had taxed private schools to fund more teachers, but the number of teachers had decreased. "It turns out appointing a spiteful class warrior as Education Secretary was a disaster," Badenoch had said.

The dispute extended to social media later on Wednesday. Phillipson posted on X that Badenoch "lost her head at PMQs - and afterwards too." She added, "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 response, 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 -reversing even Labour's academy reforms. 0% of teachers think you're doing a great job. I'm not here to give you a pat on the back. I speak for those people whose lives you're destroying and I'll NEVER stop speaking up for them."

A spokesman for Badenoch stated that she would "absolutely not" apologize for her language, asserting, "This was about a Cabinet which has let him down, about a group of Labour MPs who have let him down and now they've got rid of him."