Kemi Badenoch launches 'purge of Tory wets' as Theresa May's chief of staff kicked out for 'slagging off' tough line on human rights

By JASON GROVES, POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 17:00, 13 July 2026 | Updated: 17:14, 13 July 2026 Theresa May's former chief of staff has lost the Conservative whip after repeatedly accusing Kemi Badenoch of turning the party into a 'Reform tribute act'. In what looks like the start of a purge of the Tory 'wets', Gavin Barwell has been told he will not get the Tory whip back following a leave of absence from the House of Lords. The move comes just days after Mrs Badenoch warned that former Tory MPs would not be reselected as candidates if they refused to back her stance on issues like leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and taking a more pragmatic approach to Net Zero. Writing at the weekend, the Tory leader said she was building a 'party for the future', not a 'retirement home for failed politicians'. She said that some of her former colleagues 'should never have been candidates before' and warned they would soon be told they would not be allowed to stand again. Lord Barwell served as Mrs May's chief of staff throughout her time as Prime Minister, helping to draw up her controversial Brexit deal, which was rejected by MPs. Since the election, the former Tory housing minister has criticised Mrs Badenoch repeatedly for 'poor strategic judgment', particularly when she has abandoned parts of Mrs May's 'legacy', such as the dash for Net Zero. Baroness Williams of Trafford, Tory chief whip in the House of Lords, said Lord Barwell had ignored a request to discuss his conduct after returning from a break. Kemi Badenoch has warned she will not allow the Tories to become a 'retirement home for failed politicians' Gavin Barwell is a leading Tory 'wet' who has repeatedly criticised Mrs Badenoch In a letter on Monday evening she told him: 'In recent months, you have also made a series of public statements directed against both the Leader of the Opposition and the Conservative Party. 'Robust debate and differences of opinion have always been part of our Party's tradition. However, there is an important distinction between disagreement and conduct that undermines the discipline and mutual respect upon which any serious political party depends. 'I expect those who take the Conservative Whip to uphold standards of collective responsibility, engage constructively with the Party's internal processes, and treat colleagues with the respect necessary for effective teamwork. Your repeated public attacks on the Party and your refusal to engage with those processes have fallen short of those standards.' Tory sources said Lord Barwell had been a thorn in the side for months. In October last year, after Mrs Badenoch announced a future Conservative government would pull out of the ECHR, he tweeted: 'All my life until now the Conservative Party has supported membership of the ECHR. So the problem is not that I am a closet Lib Dem; it is that the Conservative Party has chosen to become a Reform tribute act.' In the same month he criticised Mrs Badenoch's call to scrap the Climate Change Act, saying: 'This is a combination of bad policy and bad politics. History will not judge abandoning efforts to avoid warming of more than 1.5C well. In the US this approach is pushing electricity prices up, not down. And there's no future in being a Reform tribute act.' Intervening again on the issue last week, he said tinkering with Net Zero targets during a heatwave was 'bad politics' which would put the Tories on 'the wrong side of history'. Lord Barwell is a prominent member of the Prosper group of Tory 'wets' which was set up last year to lobby against the party moving to the Right. Other key members include former home secretary Amber Rudd, former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson and former West Midlands mayor Andy Street. But Tory sources said the decision to exclude Lord Barwell was based on his involvement in trying to undermine Mrs Badenoch rather than his political views. One insider said: 'It's absolutely right that Barwell's behaviour has consequences. He's been slagging off Kemi and the party for months and MPs and Lords have had enough. 'Everyone knows that in politics you sort your disagreements out in private, but he won't even meet the Chief Whip.'