Kemi Badenoch has rejected allegations of bullying against her as "smears" designed to "disrupt" her campaign for the Tory leadership.
The shadow housing secretary accused The Guardian of a "hit job" after the newspaper published claims she created an "intimidating" atmosphere in the Department of Business and Trade when she was secretary of state - something she has strongly denied.
In a post on X, Ms Badenoch dismissed the allegations as "smears from former staff who I sacked after they were accused of bullying behaviour, lying about other colleagues to cover up their own failures and general gross incompetence - intolerable behaviour I would not stand for".
According to The Guardian, Ms Badenoch - seen as a frontrunner in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader - stands accused of creating a "toxic" atmosphere in the business department when she was business and trade secretary under the former prime minister.
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Sources told the newspaper that at least three officials found her behaviour so "traumatising" that they felt they had no other choice but to leave their roles.
Last year, on 13 December, a senior official held a town hall meeting to address concerns about the culture in the department in response to feelings of low morale, The Guardian reported.
It cited allegations by sources that at least three senior officials in Ms Badenoch's private office felt "pushed out" by "bullying and traumatising" behaviour by the former cabinet minister when she was business secretary.
On Sunday, Ms Badenoch became the sixth person to put their name forward in the race to replace Mr Sunak following the party's worst-ever defeat at the general election.
The shadow housing secretary joined colleagues James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat, Robert Jenrick and Mel Stride in the race for Tory leader, along with Priti Patel, who also launched her bid at the weekend.
Ms Badenoch claimed her campaign to be Conservative leader had "spooked the lefties and now they're coming for the one person they know can beat Keir Starmer".
"The business department has confirmed to The Guardian there were no complaints about me and no investigations," she continued. "It's all utterly false."
She added: "I won't let it stop me or my campaign. The renewal of my party and the country is too important to let the Guardian, acting for the Labour Party, disrupt."
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Tap hereA spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said: "We can state categorically that there have never been any formal complaints or investigations into the Secretary of State's conduct at this department.
"We cannot comment in response to anonymous allegations made on behalf of unnamed staff, but it is completely false that 'several senior civil servants have made unofficial complaints, or spoken privately, to the DBT permanent secretary in the last 15 months'.
"It is routine for government departments to seek the views of Civil Servants via a People Survey and it is equally routine for teams to meet to discuss those responses. Anything that suggests this meeting was about the Secretary of State, rather than business as usual, would be misleading.
"We do not tolerate abuse or bullying of any kind."
Ms Badenoch launched her campaign with a pledge to tell voters the truth following the party's loss on 4 July, in which it was reduced to just 121 seats in parliament.
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