Kemi Badenoch has revealed how she “threw” her husband off a Tory candidate list to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

The leadership hopeful explained how she effectively ended her husband’s political career when she was made vice-chairman of candidates for the Conservative Party shortly after getting elected as MP for Saffron Walden in 2017.

During virtual hustings, organised by the publication Conservative Home, candidates were asked how they would reunite the party and country as well as win back public trust.

Responding to the question, Mrs Badenoch said: "In terms of demonstrating integrity it's ‘show don’t tell’. No one stands as a dishonest politician but we have to show that we are honest and straight with people, and we have to go above and beyond the standards that we apply to everyone else.

“I use the example of when I was vice-chairman of candidates and the first thing I did when I took on that role was I threw my husband off the list because I didn't think it would look good if I was chair of candidates and he was applying for seats.

“I recognised that there was a potential conflict of interest there and even though I wasn’t required to, I took additional steps to show that this was something that I took seriously."

Mother emigrated to London

Her husband, Hamish, is a former Tory councillor in Merton, south-west London. His mother emigrated to London from Ireland and he stood as the Conservative candidate for Foyle, Northern Ireland in the 2015 election, where he came last with 0.4 per cent of the vote.

He met Kemi at a Dulwich and West Norwood Conservative Club event in 2009 and when Mrs Badernoch contested the constituency’s seat against the late Labour MP Tessa Jowell, Hamish helped her to deliver leaflets.

They married in 2012, and went on to have three children together, two daughters and a son. Mr Badernoch, who read History at Cambridge University, now works at Deutsche Bank where he is the global head of the company’s future of work and real estate division.

During the online event – which was the first public hustings to have taken place so far during the Tory party leadership race – Rishi Sunak was widely mocked on social media after the backdrop to his Zoom profile contained a spelling blunder.

The former Chancellor spoke with his "Ready for Rishi" branding behind him along with his slogan "Restore trust. Rebuild the economy. Reunite the country". The background also featured an invitation for supporters to scan a QR code in order to "join the "campiaign”.

Moratorium on green levy

Liz Truss used the debate to vow to axe the planned corporation tax hike from 19 to 25 per cent in 2023 and she also committed to a temporary moratorium on the green energy levy, costing around £5 billion per year.

She said she would take immediate action to start "putting money back into people's pockets" during the cost of living crisis.

Ms Truss said she would reverse the National Insurance hike, which she said she had opposed in Cabinet.

"I think it's even more of a mistake now when we're facing such strong economic headwinds," she added. "I would also have a temporary moratorium on the green energy levy to cut £153 from people's energy bills.

"And I would also not do the corporation tax hikes because I think it's vitally important that we're attracting investment into our country."