Why rudeness has no place at work

Straight talkers take pride in honesty, but it can lead to a dysfunctional workplace.

- Emma Jacobs

Ms Kemi Badenoch is rude. That's not my description. I have never spoken to the new leader of the UK Conservative party. It is a characterisation attributed to both her detractors and supporters.

On a television show before the party's leadership election, former Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns said Ms Badenoch "came across as rude, like a school ma'am disciplining school children" and urged her to have "more respect".

Then, in a podcast interview, BBC political editor Chris Mason told Ms Badenoch he had spoken to a few Tory colleagues, including supportive MPs, who complained of her tendency to fall out with people.

She replied: "I don't think I'm being rude; I just think I'm saying something that I wouldn't mind hearing back... I have to be mindful that I have a higher tolerance for things than others."

The upside, she said, was it meant she was better equipped to cope with "stress".