A UK Conservative Party leadership hopeful has revisited her beef with David Tennant by saying she is “not afraid of Doctor Who” and will “take the fight” to the cultural establishment in a campaign video.
Kemi Badenoch launched her campaign on X yesterday and unveiled a 30-second video prior, in which she focused almost solely on her very public spat with Tennant. Tennant, who played the 10th Doctor, told Badenoch to “shut up” in July due to her views on trans rights and she responded at the time that she “will not be silenced.” Big anti-trans names including JK Rowling also rushed to Badenoch’s defense, calling Goblet of Fire star Tennant part of the “gender Taliban” in a ranty X post.
In the new campaign vid, which can be watched in full below, Badenoch said: “When you have that type of cultural establishment trying to keep Conservatives down you need someone like me, who’s not afraid of Doctor Who, or whoever, and who’s going to take the fight to them and not let them keep us down. That’s not going to happen with me.” The vid begins with a clip of Tennant criticizing her.
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Badenoch has been consistently vocal with her views on trans rights and has previously said she would allow organizations to bar transgender women from single-sex spaces, amongst other calls.
She is currently the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race, according to recent polling. Rishi Sunak, who lost the election to Keir Starmer in July, will stand down shortly.