I’m no bully but I won’t be pushed around – I’ll stand up for what I believe, blasts Kemi Badenoch

"The person who's made the accusation was not a civil servant. She was someone who I brought in on a fixed-term contract to be a PA and to do things which a civil servant should not do.

"Almost all of the things in there are fabrications or misrepresentations."

The Shadow Communities Secretary was then shown by Political Editor Harry Cole a screenshot of a blog post she allegedly wrote in 2006, which claimed most people who changed the world were “notoriously rude,” while dictators like Hitler were “charming".

Ms Badenoch said she couldn't recall if she wrote it but stood her ground, saying: "I do think plain speaking is absolutely important. That is not rudeness.

"Being plain speaking, telling the truth is not rudeness. 

"I don't understand how we have got to a point where not telling people what's really going on is the correct thing to say or be polite, don't tell the truth. I think the truth matters."

Asked if colleagues who complain about her style are "snowflakes", she fired back: "Like I said, people who've worked with me are supporting me. Of course, there'll be rival camps.

"There'll be other people who want a different person, perhaps because maybe they're on their wing of the party, or a job has been promised."

Last week's second ballot in the Tory leadership contest put Robert Jenrick first with 33 votes, followed by Ms Badenoch with 28.

But the ex-Cabinet Minister told Political Editor Harry Cole "I don't mind not being the frontrunner".