Kemi Badenoch looked bewildered when asked by the BBC if former prime minister Liz Truss was still a member of the Conservative Party.

The current Tory leader served as the international trade secretary during Truss’s short time in Downing Street in autumn 2022.

But, since unveiling £45bn of unfunded tax cuts in her mini-Budget, subsequently being kicked out of office by her own MPs and then losing her parliament seat in last July’s general election, Truss has become a sore spot for the Conservatives.

Badenoch’s own shadow chancellor Mel Stride took aim at the former prime minister in a speech on Thursday, arguing that she had destroyed the party’s reputation for economic competence.

So on Friday, the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason asked Badenoch: “Why not throw her out o

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