Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has spoken candidly about the racism and hostility she has faced since becoming the first Black woman to head the Tories, admitting she has been surprised by the intensity of the abuse.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Badenoch revealed that the backlash has been far greater than she anticipated, despite her long-held belief that Britain is “the best place in the world to be Black.”
“There’s a certain cadre of people who clearly can’t cope with the fact that I won this and I’m doing it,” she said. “The level of personal attacks from anonymous people, it’s hysterical. Not even just from MPs — I actually don’t think it’s that many MPs. I think it’s two to three people out of 120. That’s nothing. But online as well. People used to talk about Trump derangement syndrome. I think there’s a Kemi derangement syndrome: ‘How could she possibly have done this?’”
Badenoch disclosed that much of the online abuse centres on her race and heritage. “There’s a lot of ethno-nationalism creeping up, lots of stuff about my race and my ethnicity and the tropes around, ‘well, she couldn’t possibly have done this all by herself’.”
Born in Wimbledon to Nigerian parents, Badenoch spent part of her childhood in Nigeria before returning to the UK at 16. While she rarely speaks extensively about her heritage, she has previously said she no longer feels Nigerian and has often criticised anti-racism campaigners and critical race theory.
