𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A furious row erupted in the House of Commons today after Kemi Badenoch ripped into the Education Secretary, both inside the Chamber and out. The Tory leader had already torn into Bridget Phillipson during a blistering Prime Minister’s Questions, branding her a “spiteful class warrior”. But it seems the fireworks did not stop there.

As MPs filed out after the session, Ms Phillipson is said to have fired a parting shot at the Tory leader, only to get a furious broadside in return. The Daily Express can reveal the fuming top Tory shot back: “I will never stop fighting you. You are destroying children’s lives.”

Mrs Badenoch has been battling against Labour’s tax grab on private education after the government slapped VAT on the schools for the first time in history. Tory insiders have framed the fight as one protecting aspirational parents, many of whom have seen their kids’ schools close because of the raid.

A spokesman for Mrs Badenoch later insisted she would “absolutely not” apologise for her language in the Chamber, despite Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle stepping in to demand calm. It is understood the line that sparked Sir Lindsay’s intervention was “they don’t like it up ’em” – a cheeky nod to classic sitcom Dad’s Army.

The Speaker told MPs: “Please, can I just say, think about the language using, because when we leave this chamber, don’t be surprised when constituents feel they can use the same language against each other. Let us show a little bit more decorum and respect to each other.”

But Mrs Badenoch’s spokesman insisted she had gone easy on outgoing top dog Sir Keir Starmer, claiming she actually felt sorry for the beleaguered PM. “There was very little aimed at the Prime Minister,” the spokesman said. “This was about a Cabinet which has let him down, about a group of Labour MPs who have let him down and now they’ve got rid of him.”

Earlier in the Commons, Mrs Badenoch had savaged the Government’s record on education, raging: “She taxed private schools to pay for more teachers, but the number of teachers has gone down. It turns out appointing a spiteful class warrior as Education Secretary was a disaster.”

She also rounded on Chancellor Rachel Reeves for letting the Prime Minister down, and branded Energy Secretary Ed Miliband guilty of outright “treachery”.

The fiery clash marked an end to Sir Keir’s first PMQs since announcing he would resign as Prime Minister just a few days after pledging to fight any leadership contest no matter who started it.