Conservative leadership race: Kemi Badenoch says Tories ‘talked right but governed left’ as James Cleverly vows to resurrect Rwanda scheme
Two Tory leadership hopeful frontrunners have made their pitch to members and MPs ahead of candidates being whittled down this week.
Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly launched their campaigns today before the first round of voting on Wednesday, when six candidates will become four.
Ms Badenoch took aim at the Conservative government she was part of as she said it “talked right but governed left”, while presenting herself as the only person who could be brutally honest.
Mr Cleverly focused on his experience in government – as home and foreign secretary – as he promised to bring back the Rwanda policy and raise defence spending to 3% of GDP.
Former business secretary Ms Badenoch, the bookmakers’ favourite to replace Rishi Sunak, said “a government that tried to do everything will likely end up achieving nothing”.
“This was one of our mistakes,” she said.
“We talked right but governed left, sounding like Conservatives but acting like Labour.
“Government should do fewer things, but what it does, it should do with brilliance.”
Kemi Badenoch said the Conservatives had ‘talked right but governed left’
She said Labour are only in government because people no longer believed in the Conservatives, and “trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public” about the UK’s finances.
“The British people are yearning for something better, and this Labour government is not it,” she said.
“They are already making worse mistakes than we did.”
Ms Badenoch said her principles included personal responsibility, truth, the family, equality under the law and citizenship.
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She also said as a former engineer she knows how to “get things done” and can “accept reality” while politicians “pretend we can have everything, they make promises we cannot keep”.
And she sought to dispel criticism she was only concerned with culture wars, saying as equalities minister she had to look after “very, very tricky issues like race and gender”.
“I didn’t run away. And not only did I not run away, I defended people who needed help, and I dragged Labour onto our turf,” she said.
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Kemi Badenoch leaves after speaking at a Conservative Party leadership campaign event. Pic: PA
Mr Cleverly’s pitch to MPs and members lay firmly on his experience as he pledged to “resurrect” the Rwanda scheme for illegal migrants – scrapped by Labour – if he becomes prime minister.
Avoiding criticising the government he helped lead, he said for the Conservative Party to get back on track people need to see it “focused on them, not just focused on ourselves”.
“The parliamentary party needs to lead by example,” he said.
“We must be unified, we must be disciplined – and unity is not the easy option, it is the harder option.”
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly is hugged by former defence secretary Grant Shapps at the launch event. Pic: PA
To much applause, he announced he would commit to spending 3% of GDP on defence.
“You cannot penny-pinch your way to peace,” the former minister said.
The shadow home secretary concluded: “I know that our best years can be ahead of us, but only if we replace this useless Labour government.”
The six Conservative leader candidates are:
- James Cleverly
- Robert Jenrick
- Tom Tugendhat
- Mel Stride
- Kemi Badenoch
- Priti Patel
A new leader is expected to be selected in November.
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PayPal says the US Securities and Exchange Commission has abandoned its investigation into the payment giant’s US-dollar stablecoin.
PayPal said in an April 29 regulatory filing that the SEC concluded its investigation into PayPal USD (PYUSD) and wouldn’t be taking any action.
The company said it received a subpoena from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement over its stablecoin in November 2023.
“The subpoena requests the production of documents. We are cooperating with the SEC in connection with this request,” PayPal stated at the time.
In its latest filing, the firm said the SEC notified it in February that the agency “was closing this inquiry without enforcement action.”
PayPal has said its stablecoin is 100% redeemable for US dollars and “fully backed” by dollar deposits, including short-term treasuries and cash equivalents.
However, the stablecoin has struggled to gain momentum in a crowded market dominated by rivals Tether and Circle. PYUSD has a market capitalization of just $880 million, less than 1% of Tether’s (USDT) $148.5 billion.
PayPal’s stablecoin has seen better growth this year with a 75% increase in PYUSD circulating supply since the beginning of 2025, according to CoinGecko. It remains down 14% from its peak supply of just over $1 billion in August 2024.
Earnings on PYUSD, Coinbase partnership
That growth could be bolstered by a company announcement on April 23 introducing rewards for PYUSD in a new loyalty offering that will enable US users to earn 3.7% annually for holding the asset on the platform.
Meanwhile, on April 24, PayPal announced a partnership with Coinbase to increase the adoption of PYUSD.
“We are excited to drive new, exciting, and innovative use cases together with Coinbase and the entire cryptocurrency community, putting PYUSD at the center,” said Alex Chriss, PayPal President and CEO.
Related: PayPal to offer 3.7% yield on stablecoin balances: Report
The payments giant also reported robust first-quarter earnings and the completion of significant share repurchase activities.
The firm beat Wall Street estimates, earning $1.33 per share in the first quarter, topping analyst expectations of $1.16. Revenue rose 1% from a year before to $7.8 billion.
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Asset manager BlackRock has filed to create digital ledger technology shares from one of the firm’s money market funds, which will leverage blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for investors.
The DLT shares will track BlackRock’s BLF Treasury Trust Fund (TTTXX), which may only be purchased from BlackRock Advisors and The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), the firm said in its April 29 Form N-1A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The money market fund holds over $150 million worth of assets, invested almost entirely in US Treasury bills and cash.
BlackRock said that the shares “are expected to be purchased and held through BNY, which intends to use blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for its customers.”
Unlike the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), DLT shares won’t be tokenized but will instead be used as a transparency tool to verify ownership.
BlackRock will continue to maintain traditional book-entry records as the official ownership ledger.
BlackRock didn’t propose a ticker or set a management fee for the DLT shares in its filing.
A minimum initial investment of $3 million worth of DLT is required for institutions seeking to purchase the digital shares.
BlackRock follows Fidelity’s March 21 filing to list an Ethereum-based OnChain share class, which seeks to track the Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX) — an $80 million fund consisting almost entirely of US Treasury bills.
While the OnChain share class filing is pending regulatory approval, Fidelity expects it to take effect on May 30.
Wall Street heavyweights continue to explore blockchain use cases
Asset managers have increasingly turned to blockchain to tokenize Treasury bills, bonds and private credit over the past few years.
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The treasury tokenization market is currently valued at $6.16 billion, led by BlackRock’s BUIDL at $2.55 billion, while the Franklin Templeton-issued Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (BENJI) secures over $700 million worth of real-world assets, according to rwa.xyz.
Ethereum remains the chain of choice for tokenizing treasury assets, and currently houses over $4.55 billion worth, while the Stellar network and Solana round out the top three at $474.9 million and $274.5 million, respectively.
The potential of RWA tokenization has also been championed by BlackRock’s CEO, Larry Fink, who believes the technology could revolutionize investing.
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