Cleverly Says He Would Not Have Compared Phillipson to Gestapo Officer as Badenoch Stands by Remark

Sir James Cleverly said he would not have compared Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to a Gestapo officer. The BBC reported that Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, made the statement while appearing on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.

Kemi Badenoch made the comparison earlier this month in an interview with The Spectator while criticising the government's decision to end a tax exemption for private schools.

Badenoch has not apologised for the remark. Phillipson said the comment showed Badenoch was not fit to be prime minister. Cleverly criticised Labour's education record during the interview. He said Phillipson had pursued an agenda about punishing people who spend their own money to send children to private school rather than raising money or recruiting teachers.

When asked if he would have used the same phraseology, Cleverly replied that it would not have been the language he would use but that Badenoch's explanation could be seen. Badenoch described Phillipson as a spiteful class warrior at Prime Minister's Questions earlier this week.

The Conservatives have accused Labour of targeting families with children at private schools through VAT to fund more state school teachers while overseeing a fall in teacher numbers.

Phillipson has labelled comments by Conservative MP Nick Timothy as racist and called for him to be sacked. Timothy described a Muslim religious gathering in central London in March as an act of domination and denied that the comment amounted to racism.