Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch has claimed that young Conservative students are being marked down by their university lecturers because of their beliefs.

Giving her pitch to members at the final day of the party’s conference in Birmingham, the former business secretary claimed students were afraid of expressing right-wing views on campuses.

“They tell me they are afraid to share their politics with other students because they will be attacked,” Ms Badenoch said, citing anecdotes relayed to her by members of the Tory youth wing – known as the Young Conservatives.

“[They tell me] that they are marked down by lecturers because of their beliefs. We have let Young Conservatives down. We need to defend them, champion them, and give them a party they can be proud of.”

̽����Ƶ

Ms Badenoch’s campaign has been marked by a series of controversial remarks in recent days, including appearing to call maternity pay “excessive” and telling a fringe event that between five and 10 per cent of civil servants are so bad they “should be in prison”.

She is fighting to become the leader of the party against rivals Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat, with a parliamentary vote due next week to decide which two candidates will be put through to the final round in which the membership will decide the winner.

̽����Ƶ

Given that the party members tend to skew further to the right than its MPs, experts had predicted that universities would come under fire in the campaign – building on tropes about “Mickey Mouse degrees” adopted by the previous government.

In his speech, Mr Jenrick included universities in a list of things he said were not “working as it should” while Mr Tugendhat took aim at Labour’s decision to pause the free speech bill in universities.

Mr Cleverly – who has emerged as a front runner in the race during the conference – referenced his changes to the immigration system made while he was home secretary that removed the right of students below PhD level to bring their dependants with them.

He said this had “got immigration down by 300,000 people a year” in a move that many universities blame for steep declines in their international student enrolments.

̽����Ƶ

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com