Kemi Badenoch has sparked cross-party condemnation for using a speech to attack diversity policies and climate activism while European leaders thrash out a strategy to deal with the increasingly unstable global landscape and tackle the threat posed by Russia.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said Mrs Badenoch is “competing with Nigel Farage to fawn over Donald Trump”.
The Conservative leader was accused of “parroting Donald Trump’s dangerous rhetoric” instead of standing up for national security, after addressing the right-wing Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London on Monday.
Speaking alongside rightwing Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, Mrs Badenoch said: “We are distracted, too busy critiquing and deconstructing what previous generations built, rather than making sure that the very best of our inheritance is left intact for the next generation.
It comes as the prime minister travels to a European crisis summit called by French president Emmanuel Macron on Monday to face down the threat of Russia, just days after Volodmyr Zelensky called for an “army of Europe” as it could not rely on the US for defence.
