Kemi Badenoch has said hacking into Harriet Harman’s website when she was younger is “not the same” as Rachel Reeves failing to get a £900 rental licence for her home.
The Tory leader, who has called for the chancellor to go for breaking the law, told Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates she was not an MP in 2008 when she got into Labour peer Baroness Harman’s website and changed it so it was pro-Conservative.
Politics latest: Reeves told she has to go after breaking law
Hacking into websites is a criminal offence and can be punishable with a fine or up to a two-year prison sentence for minor offences, or life imprisonment for the most serious.
Asked if she had ever broken the law, Ms Badenoch said: “I don’t believe that I have, but if I had done so, if I had done so when I was in government, then I would have been sacked or I would have been forced to resign.”
But reminded of her hacking episode, she said: “This was something I did in my 20s.
“We’re not talking about something that Rachel Reeves did in her 20s, we’re talking about something she’s doing as chancellor, after she became chancellor.
“It is not the same thing at all.”
She said people should not “try and draw a false equivalence” and said she guessed Baroness Harman’s password to enter the website, adding it was “a summary offence, like speeding”.
“This is whataboutery, we have a government of people who are repeatedly breaking the law,” she added.
Ms Reeves has said she was not aware she needed a rental licence, required in some areas, to let out her family home in Dulwich, southeast London, after she moved to Downing Street when she was made chancellor.
She has now applied for a licence and apologised to Sir Keir Starmer, who has said that is adequate and there is no need for an investigation.
But Ms Badenoch said Ms Reeves’s position is untenable, given the PM has said “lawbreakers shouldn’t be lawmakers”.
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What law has Rachel Reeves broken?
Under the Housing Act 2004, introduced by Labour, councils can decide to introduce selective licensing, where residential landlords in specified areas must have a licence.
Landlords must adhere to certain requirements to obtain a licence, including gas certificates, working carbon monoxide alarms and fire safety regulations for furnishings.
They must secure a licence within 28 days of renting out a home.
Southwark Council, where Rachel Reeves’ house is, charges £900 for a licence, which lasts five years.
Failure to secure a selective licence can result in a penalty of up to £30,000 or an unlimited fine from a court upon conviction.
Landlords can also be made to repay up to 12 months’ rent to the tenant or they can be prevented from renting out the property.
Serious and repeat offenders can be prosecuted, with a sentence of up to five years or an uncapped fine, and they can be put on a rogue landlords database.
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Ms Badenoch’s hacking escapade emerged in 2018 after she was asked about the “naughtiest” thing she had ever done in an interview with the Core Politics website.
“About 10 years ago, I hacked into a Labour MP’s website and I changed all the stuff in there to say nice things about Tories,” she said.
The then-Conservative Party’s vice chair for candidates, who became an MP in 2017, said she had apologised and called it a “foolish prank”.
Baroness Harman told Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast last year Ms Badenoch had posted on her website as if she was the Labour peer, saying she was thinking of joining the Conservative Party.
Ms Badenoch “owned up to it and actually bragged about it”, Baroness Harman said, as she admitted her password at the time was “Harriet Harman”.
She said she decided not to press charges.
