Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Opposition Conservative Party, compared Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to a Gestapo officer — a reference to the Nazi secret police. Badenoch was criticising the government's decision to remove a tax exemption on private school fees, a change that has caused some independent schools to close.

She made the comment at Prime Minister's Questions — a weekly parliamentary session where the Opposition leader directly challenges the Prime Minister — and later expanded on it in an interview with the Spectator magazine. Labour politicians immediately said she was "not fit to be prime minister." The comparison is politically risky: using Nazi analogies to describe domestic British politics is something voters and politicians alike tend to view poorly.

What matters more than Labour's reaction, though, is how Conservative figures responded. BBC News reported that James Cleverly — who ran against Badenoch in last year's Conservative leadership election — said he would not have used the Gestapo comparison. He did not directly attack Badenoch, but he made it clear he disagreed. When a rival from your own party publicly distances themselves, it sends a signal that people remember long after the news moves on.

Badenoch has not apologised or withdrawn the comment. She argues that the government is using regulatory powers in a way that is coercive enough to justify such strong language. The broader Conservative argument is that Labour wants to squeeze independent schools out of existence through regulation and tax, rather than simply taxing them. This argument has some support among certain voters. But the language Badenoch chose to make it may have undercut her point.

The underlying policy disagreement is genuine. Since the start of this academic year, the government has removed the tax exemption that independent schools previously enjoyed. This has raised costs for many families and caused some smaller schools to close. The Conservatives argue they are defending parental choice — the freedom for families to choose fee-paying schools if they wish. Phillipson has become the target of these attacks.

There is a particular problem here for an Opposition leader. Prime Minister's Questions is the one time each week when the Opposition leader gets guaranteed access to challenge the government. When Badenoch used that time to introduce a comparison that became the entire story — rather than discussing schools policy itself — she actually handed Labour an easy defensive position. Labour did not need to argue against her on schools on 28 June; her own words did the work for them.

Cleverly's public distance from the comment is unlikely to be the last. Whether this story stays in the news for days or fades quickly depends on what happens next: whether Badenoch sticks to her position, changes her mind, or explains herself further. It also depends on whether Phillipson or the Prime Minister bring it up again in Parliament.