UK Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, has pushed back against what she described as “hysterical” attacks from critics who claim she only emerged as Tory leader because of her race.
Badenoch said some of the remarks directed at her were rooted in prejudice, questioning her ability to achieve political success without external advantages.
She said some of the criticism has been “about my race and my ethnicity,” and the suggestion that she “couldn’t possibly have done this all by myself”.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, she added that certain detractors believe her rise within the party was driven by diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives rather than merit.
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. 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? It must have been DEI.’”
Badenoch condemned what she described as a wave of racially charged attacks targeting her since assuming the role.
She said that on social media, “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 also dismissed personal attacks on her character, rejecting suggestions that she was unfit for leadership. “They will try and use the tropes about black people – that they’re lazy, they’re corrupt or they’re all DEI hires – and it’s something which I find extraordinary because I take everyone at face value,” she said.
Badenoch also took aim at what she called the “sore losers” agitating for Robert Jenrick to replace her as Conservative Party leader.
Mr Jenrick, now serving as Shadow Justice Secretary, lost to Badenoch in last year’s leadership contest but has since gained traction through a series of highly produced social media videos, including ones featuring him putting up English flags and confronting fare dodgers.
Badenoch dismissed the speculation around him, suggesting it was “wishful thinking” by his backers that he could take over. She further claimed that Mr Jenrick himself found the chatter “distressing.”
She said: “There will always be people who are sore losers, our candidate didn’t win and so on, and sour grapes. When I hear those things, I can tell those people are not focused on the country at all.
“Many of those people having those conversations think this is a game. But the lives of people in this country aren’t a game.”
“I think even Rob himself finds it distressing, but it’s just something that we deal with,” she said.
Badenoch has struggled to reverse the Conservatives’ slump in the polls, with the party trailing both Reform UK and Labour.
She argued that her challenge is greater than that faced by previous opposition leaders, pointing to the emergence of a right-wing rival in Reform UK and the party’s reduced number of MPs.
While acknowledging public anger at both Labour and the Conservatives’ record in government, she framed her task as an uphill battle to keep the Tories relevant in British politics.
She also dismissed Nigel Farage and Reform UK as destructive forces with little to offer beyond disruption.
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