Book alleges Badenoch plotted to replace Sunak from within cabinet

A new book by biographer Anthony Seldon claims Kemi Badenoch called Conservative cabinet ministers in 2023, asking if they were "interested in changing the captain" — removing then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Badenoch now leads the Conservatives in opposition. "Sunak at 10," serialised in The Independent, is published 27 August 2026.