As major hurricane threatens Florida, Ron DeSantis weighs in on UK Tory leadership fight

Wearing a shirt with the state seal on it, Gov. Ron DeSantis rewarded one of the British leaders who talked to him during the global “trade mission” he launched on the eve of his failed presidential campaign last year.

The Governor, who is in the midst of readying the state for response and recovery from a second major hurricane in less than a month, backs “from across the pond” Kemi Badenoch for leader of the U.K.’s Tory Party, which is reeling in the wake of electoral embarrassment earlier this year.

“She and I worked on a great trade agreement between Florida and the United Kingdom,” DeSantis said during the video, saying Badenoch would be an “inspiration for conservatives not just in the United Kingdom but around the world.”

“It builds on my work as Trade Secretary with UK allies across the world. They know the challenges we face are not unique and it’s great to show I have the relationships and support outside the UK as well as inside it, if elected to lead. Our party needs renewal and that includes rebuilding our overseas networks,” Badenoch said about the endorsement.

Badenoch was in Northeast Florida last year rolling out a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Florida and Great Britain.

DeSantis credited her also with supporting his “war on woke” in comments to the British press this Spring, with a tweet lauding her as a “strong, outspoken leader.”

DeSantis has said the U.K. was a “second home” for Americans, given “how the country was birthed” and the “rule of law,” driven by the fact our “Founding Fathers considered themselves Englishmen,” and a “special relationship” writ large.

Clearly, that relationship is strong enough for the Governor to weigh in on a fight far away from home even as more than half the state is under a state of emergency.

https://x.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1842831164706312280