UK Conservatives expel centrist peer Barwell as Badenoch shifts right
The expulsion of former chief of staff Gavin Barwell signals a decisive rightward shift under Kemi Badenoch that risks isolating the UK's main opposition from European center-right norms on climate and human rights.
Gavin Barwell has lost the Conservative whip in the House of Lords, a move the party attributes to a breach of discipline but which the former minister links directly to his public criticism of Kemi Badenoch's hardening stance on climate policy.
The expulsion of Theresa May’s former chief of staff follows Badenoch’s explicit declaration that advocates of net zero targets or opponents of UK withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights are unwelcome. Writing in the Telegraph last week, she labelled such Conservatives "not serious".
For European businesses and diplomats, this internal disciplinary action underscores a profound strategic shift. The UK's official opposition is actively moving away from the center-right consensus on climate and human rights that still dominates mainstream European politics.
Barwell warned that this trajectory alienates the voters necessary to win elections. He noted that while Badenoch's personal ratings have improved by holding the government to account, the party's overall polling has not. "There are millions of centre right voters who are attracted by what she has to say about the economy, but are put off by some of her other positions," he wrote on LinkedIn.
The peer said he learned of his expulsion only when a contact forwarded him a Daily Mail article. He argued that the removal suggested an "intolerance of criticism" unseen under previous leaders he served, from John Major to Theresa May. "No one has a monopoly of wisdom: Kemi will succeed if she builds a broad church and encourages a healthy debate about strategy. I hope it happens," he added.
A Conservative source strongly denied the move was an ideological purge of centrists, dismissing the speculation as "complete rubbish". The party pointed to a letter from Susan Williams, the chief whip in the Lords, which cited Barwell's failure to meet her upon returning from a leave of absence.
Williams wrote that while robust debate is a party tradition, there is "an important distinction between disagreement and conduct that undermines the discipline and mutual respect upon which any serious political party depends." She confirmed Barwell would not receive the whip upon resuming his seat.
The dispute arrives alongside calls from the influential ConservativeHome website for Badenoch to distance the party from Proper UK, a centrist grouping led by former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson and ex-West Midlands mayor Andy Street. The resulting narrowing of the party's tent raises fresh questions about the long-term political stability and policy predictability of Britain's primary opposition.
