British Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, has accused politicians in Nigel Farage's Reform UK of using her Nigerian heritage to score political points after a former aide to the party leader described her as a “Nigerian scammer”.
Badenoch condemned the remarks as racist, insisting that attempts to attack her over her background would fail in a country she described as not being racist.
She made the comments during an interview on ITV's Good Morning Britain on Thursday, following a series of social media posts by Raheem Kassam, a former senior aide to Farage.
Kassam, who previously served as editor-in-chief of Breitbart News, described Badenoch as an “unrelenting scammer” and alleged that she had used her Nigerian background to advance her political career.
In another post, he wrote, “How are people still falling for this Nigerian scammer? Don't give her your credit card number and bank account details!”
Responding, Badenoch said, “I think it just shows the sort of people they are.”
She accused Reform politicians of focusing more on attacking her than presenting policies to improve the lives of Britons.
“I think they think that maybe using my race is a way for them to improve their standing.
“Britain is not a racist country, and because it's not a racist country, their racist attacks and using my race as an attack form is not going to work,” she said.
Badenoch also dismissed the position of Robert Jenrick, Reform UK's Treasury spokesman, who declined to condemn Kassam's remarks.
Asked whether the comments were racist, Jenrick said he did not think so, although he admitted they might have been unpleasant or rude.
“It's not my place to police everybody's tweets who may or may not be a supporter of Reform,” he said.
Farage also rejected suggestions that Kassam's comments were deliberately racist, telling BBC Breakfast that referring to someone's upbringing in Nigeria was not racist. He, however, conceded that the remarks were “over the top”.
The controversy drew a response from the Labour Party, which criticised Jenrick for refusing to condemn the comments.
A Labour spokesman said calling out racism was not a matter of political affiliation but “basic decency”.
Badenoch, who was born in London and spent part of her childhood in Nigeria, has led the Conservative Party since November 2024.
The dispute comes amid growing political rivalry between the Conservatives and Reform UK, which has been seeking to attract voters who previously supported the Conservative Party.
Discussion0