Kemi Badenoch has refused to kick former prime minister Liz Truss out of the Conservative Party .

The Tory leader suggested such a move would be “neither here nor there” for voters’ perception of the party.

In a speech on Thursday, shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride sought to distance the Conservatives from Ms Truss’s mini-budget, saying the party needed to show “contrition” to restore its economic credibility.

In a furious response, Ms Truss accused Sir Mel of having “kowtowed to the failed Treasury orthodoxy” and being “set on undermining my plan for growth”.

Asked by the BBC on Friday whether she would consider throwing former prime minister Ms Truss out of the Conservatives in a symbolic break with her short-lived, turbulent time in No 10, Mrs Badenoch replied: “Is she still in

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