Badenoch says Russia won't be worried about 'holidaying' Burnham as PM

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Kemi Badenoch tore into Labour's defence shambles as a 'completely powerless' Keir Starmer heads to a NATO summit today with an unfunded plan.The Tory leader condemned the outgoing Prime Minister for leaving a £5billion 'black hole' in the Government's Defence Investment Plan (DIP) for his successor to deal with.She suggested Britain had been left without any 'grown-ups' in charge, as she also swiped at Andy Burnham - who is all but certain to succeed Sir Keir. Mrs Badenoch accused Mr Burnham of wanting a 'summer holiday' when he enters Downing Street and criticised him for having 'absolutely nothing to say' about the threat Russia poses to Britain.She added that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was too distracted by scandal over his acceptance of donations to properly focus on the country's national security.'Burnham wants a summer holiday, Farage is in hiding, Starmer is retiring,' Mrs Badenoch told a Conservative rally in central London.She added: 'I don't think that Vladimir Putin is going to be worried about Nigel Farage, I don't think he's going to be worried about Andy Burnham either.' Mrs Badenoch spoke ahead of Sir Keir's arrival at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, where he could face a fresh rebuke from US President Donald Trump. Kemi Badenoch tore into Labour's defence shambles as a 'completely powerless' Keir Starmer heads to a NATO summit with an unfunded plan Mrs Badenoch spoke ahead of Sir Keir's arrival at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, where he could face a fresh rebuke from US President Donald TrumpThe PM is braced for criticism from Mr Trump over his unfunded defence spending proposals and his failure to set out a path to spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defence by 2035 - a NATO target.The DIP announced by Sir Keir last week was widely derided after it emerged there were huge funding gaps in the proposals with £4.7billion of the £15billion increase in defence spending having to be raised at Mr Burnham's first Budget.'We are sending an outgoing Prime Minister to that NATO summit who is completely powerless,' Mrs Badenoch said on Tuesday.'And he's taking with him a Defence Investment Plan which he knows is not fit for purpose with barely half the additional funding that our Armed Forces need.'So little that the former defence secretary [John Healey] quit the Government because he believed the plans would put British troops in danger. Are we really supposed to pretend that didn't happen?'She added: 'Then it transpired the small amount of money that had been announced wasn't even funded. Keir Starmer has left a £5billion black hole for his successor.'Under the current timetable for Labour's leadership contest, Mr Burnham is set to become PM on 20 July - four days after MPs have already broken up for their six-week summer break.The former Greater Manchester mayor is almost certain to replace Sir Keir as PM in the absence of any other Labour leadership contenders.But he has so far been vague about his plans for Government and exited a speech he gave in Manchester last week without taking questions from the media, leaving the country little clearer about details of his policy platform. Mrs Badenoch accused Andy Burnham of wanting a 'summer holiday' when he enters Downing Street and criticised him for having 'absolutely nothing to say' about the Russia threat The Tory leader Badenoch also turned her fire on Reform UK's Nigel Farage, who is facing a fresh row over his personal financesMrs Badenoch told Mr Burnham he 'needs to come to Parliament before recess' to answer questions from MPs.'He's not answering questions from the media, he's not answering questions from MPs, he wants a summer holiday and he wants all of us to go away until he's decided what he's going to do,' she added.'Russia is watching. We had a Russian warplane drop sonar devices around British ships. We saw what happened with that warning shot that was fired at a yacht.'We can't just pretend that nothing's happening, and he's got absolutely nothing to say about this.'I think that's because he doesn't know what to say, he doesn't know what to think.'We have someone who's coming in as PM who's not having any hustings, who's not answering questions - we need to be really worried about that.'The Tory leader told Mr Burnham that 'if he really is the PM-in-waiting he needs to start acting like a leader'.Mrs Badenoch also turned her fire on Mr Farage, who is facing a fresh row over his personal finances following reports that long-term ally George Cottrell - a convicted fraudster - had provided funding to the Reform leader for security and staffing in the year before he was elected to Parliament.Reform is 'completely distracted by their constant scandals and personal dramas', Mrs Badenoch said.Get your news delivered straight to you by 7am - sign up to our new Morning Mail newsletter for FREE