Overview

• In a Financial Times interview, Kemi Badenoch named Argentina’s President Javier Milei as the “template” for her government’s radical spending review
• She vowed to scrutinise every state function rather than making indiscriminate “top slicing” cuts
• The leader said she was “terrified” by Britain’s high debt and warned the state’s overreach threatened wealth creators
• Badenoch’s mini-reshuffle saw former rival James Cleverly return to the shadow cabinet as shadow housing secretary
• She dismissed leadership challenge speculation and aims to draw a clear distinction between the Conservatives, Reform UK and Labour on fiscal discipline