Bridget Phillipson accuses Badenoch of wanting to scrap the minimum wage

Kemi Badenoch’s feud with Labour chair Bridget Phillipson has reignited after the Tory leader was accused of wanting to ditch the minimum wage.

Ms Phillipson has latched on to Ms Badenoch’s new book The Right Way where she has attempted to lay out her vision for a new Thatcherite revolution harking back to Margaret Thatcher’s The Right Approach missive 50 years ago.

In it Ms Badenoch mocked Labour prime minister Andy Burnham’s claim that the country “took a wrong turn” in the 1980s under Baroness Thatcher.

Ms Badenoch instead claimed that the UK took a wrong turn in the late 1990s under the Tony Blair government in which Mr Burnham was a minister.

She wrote: "Britain took the wrong way in the late 1990s when Labour governments came to believe that prosperity could be mandated by ministers. If wages were too low, ministers could mandate them higher and if investment was insufficient, they could direct savings."

Ms Phillipson has suggested that this shows Ms Badenoch wants to make an attack on the minimum wage, which is set by UK government after receiving recommendations from advisory body the Low Pay Commission (LPA).

As of April this year the national living wage has been £12.71 per hour.

Ms Phillipson said: “It’s the same old Tories. They never learn. The Conservatives opposed the minimum wage when Labour introduced it, and they’re still opposed to it now.

“Kemi Badenoch is the latest in a long line of failed Tory leaders who are determined to see workers made worse off. When so many people across Britain are struggling with the cost of living, it’s about as tin-eared as you can get.

“Kemi Badenoch needs to explain why she is so unhappy that workers were paid a minimum of £3.60 per hour – or does she think they should be paid less than that now?”

The row has sparked memories of Ms Badenoch’s clash with Ms Phillipson in the Commons shortly before Sir Keir Starmer stepped down as prime minister.

In the fiery exchanges at PMQs she described Ms Phillipson, who was then education secretary, as a “spiteful class warrior”.

She had attacked her for bringing in VAT on private school fees to pay for extra teachers.

When asked about Ms Phillipson’s claims on the minimum wage, a source close to the Tory leader referred The Independent back to the insult.

In a recent interview Ms Phillipson told The Independent that she has embraced the tag of being “a spiteful class warrior.”

“I remain a proud spiteful class warrior addressing the long standing inequalities,” she told The Independent. “I got sent lots of T-shirts from members of the public, and I still have them.”

She claimed it had inspired her to bring in a new focus on class in her role as the cabinet minister for equalities and women.

She added: “I think it just says more about Kemi Badenoch than anybody else that she chooses to really reduce the debate to the level of name-calling. I don't think that advances a political argument.”