Kemi Badenoch pocketed five times more than maternity rate after quitting as minister

New analysis reveals Tory leader Kemi Badenoch was awarded a £7,920 severance payment when she quit Boris Johnson's cabinet in 2022 - only to rejoin the government eight weeks later

Kemi Badenoch pocketed almost £1,000 a week during a brief stint outside the Cabinet - five times more than statutory maternity pay, new analysis shows.

The new Tory leader has been branded "out of touch" after previously saying the rate paid to new mums was "excessive". Ms Badenoch took a £7,920 ministerial severance payment in July 2022 when she resigned from Boris Johnson’s government.

She returned to the cabinet just eight weeks later when she was appointed by Liz Truss on 4 September 2022. This amounts to the equivalent of almost £1,000 for each week while she was not in office.

Statutory maternity pay is £184 a week. Ms Badenoch sparked fury in September when she suggested maternity pay had "gone too far" in September.

Lib Dem MP Alex Brewer said: “Kemi Badenoch was happy to pocket thousands of pounds in severance payments when she resigned as a minister before being reappointed just two months later. But she has said that maternity pay which is paid at a far lower rate is somehow excessive.

"It just shows how out of touch Kemi Badenoch and the Conservative Party are."

During the Tory leadership campaign, Ms Badenoch provoked a backlash when she told Times Radio: "Maternity pay varies, depending on who you work for - but statutory maternity pay is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working.

"We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive. Businesses are closing, businesses are not starting in the UK, because they say that the burden of regulation is too high."

Asked if this meant that maternity pay "is excessive", she said: "I think it's gone too far - too far the other way in terms of general business regulation." She later claimed her words had been misinterpreted.

The Mirror has contacted Tory HQ for comment.