Kemi Badenoch has been accused of stirring up a culture war after claiming 5-10% of civil servants are "very bad" and "should be in prison".
The Tory leadership hopeful claimed at a party conference fringe event on Tuesday that some civil servants have been "leaking official secrets" and "undermining ministers".
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She faced an immediate backlash from Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union that represents civil servants, who said that if she had any evidence to back up the accusations "then action would have been taken".
A source close to Ms Badenoch told Sky News her comments "were a joke".
Ms Badenoch made the remarks during an event hosted by the Spectator magazine, when she was asked for her views on limiting the number of civil servants.
She said they "are like everybody else, they come in to do a job" and "about 10% of them are absolutely magnificent".
She added: "There's about 5 to 10% of them who are very, very bad, you know... should be in prison bad. Leaking, you know, leaking official secrets, you know, undermining their ministers... agitating."
She went on: "I had some of it in my department, usually union-led.
"But most of them actually want to do a good job, and the good ones are very frustrated by the bad ones."
As of March 2024, there were 510,665 full-time civil servants, so 5% would be around 25,000 people.
Mr Penman said Mr Badenoch had made "serious accusations" and should withdraw them unless she could produce evidence.
He posted on X: "As a former secretary of state, if Badenoch had actual evidence to back up any of these serious accusations against civil servants, then action would have been taken. Otherwise she herself would be culpable. So usual irresponsible culture war then. Rinse and repeat."
In another post, he added: "If she has evidence to back up those claims she should publish it, otherwise withdraw."
Ms Badenoch is vying for the Conservative leadership alongside Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat.
She has made a virtue out of being a straight talker, saying the public want honest politicians and she is not afraid to upset people.
She faced criticism earlier during the conference for having suggested the current level of maternity pay is "excessive".
The shadow housing secretary claimed her comments were "misrepresented" and she was talking about excessive business regulation rather than the level of the benefit, which she said "was a good thing".
Ms Badenoch is popular with the Tory membership and the current frontrunner to succeed Mr Sunak after the July general election defeat.
But an exclusive poll for Sky News has shown there is still much to play for, with Mr Jenrick in touching distance of her lead and a path to victory available for all the contenders.
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