Labour hits back after Badenoch Gestapo comparison sparks Commons row

In the House of Commons on Wednesday 24 June 2026, Kemi Badenoch called Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson a “spiteful class warrior” and accused Labour of taxing private schools to fund more teachers even as teacher numbers fell. Sir James Cleverly said on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on 28 June 2026 that he would not have used the same language. When asked if he would have called a minister a Gestapo officer, he said, “No, I probably wouldn’t have done,” adding that “so that wouldn’t have been the phraseology that I use, but you can see Kemi’s explanation there.”

Earlier in June, Badenoch told The Spectator that Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson had “acted like a Gestapo officer” over Labour’s decision to end the VAT exemption for private school fees. Phillipson replied that Badenoch had “lost her head” and later said on social media that Badenoch was not fit to be prime minister.

After Prime Minister’s Questions, Badenoch and Phillipson exchanged further hostile words in the division lobby, and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall intervened. Badenoch told Phillipson, “I’ll fight you all the way, you’re destroying children’s lives,” while also saying, “You are spiteful. I’m never going to stop talking about how spiteful you are.”

Labour’s VAT policy on private school fees took effect on 1 January 2025 at the standard rate of 20%, after being announced on 29 July 2024, and charitable business-rates relief for private schools ended in April 2025. The government says the change is meant to raise money for state education, while Conservatives say it punishes families who choose private schooling. On 4 June 2026, the Department for Education said it was on track to meet its pledge to recruit and retain an additional 6,500 teachers, but Full Fact found on 9 June 2026 that overall full-time-equivalent school teacher numbers fell by about 1,900 between November 2024 and November 2025.