The new leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has disclosed that she has been facing racist abuse since her rise to the top of the party, a revelation that comes despite her previously having dismissed race as a major barrier to progress in Britain.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Badenoch said she was surprised by the scale of the hostility she has faced since assuming her new office in July.
She accused some of her critics of being unable to accept her victory, suggesting that race has been a factor.
She said, “There’s a certain cadre of people who clearly can’t cope with the fact that I won this and I’m doing it,” and described the personal attacks as “hysterical.”
She compared the situation to “Trump derangement syndrome,” adding, “I think there’s a Kemi derangement syndrome: ‘How could she possibly have done this?’”
Badenoch, who spent part of her childhood in Nigeria, also revealed that she has received targeted abuse focused on her ethnicity, noting, “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.’”
Badenoch has a history of controversial views on race, having previously rejected the positions of anti-racism campaigners and insisting that Britain is not a racist country.
In 2020, she drew backlash for arguing that white working-class boys were more disadvantaged than minorities.
However, Badenoch now admits that her leadership has brought race into sharper focus.
She said, “I always try to think of every possible explanation before I go to race and racism. I think that is a healthy way to run a society.”
She added, “But my view is that there are people out there who will say whatever it is, they will throw whatever kind of mud at you, and they will hope that it sticks.”
Her remarks mark a “striking shift” from her earlier view that Britain was “the best place in the world to be black.”
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