Kemi Badenoch: I face racist attacks over my rise as UK Conservative leader

• Badenoch said critics portrayed black people as corrupt or lazy, dismissing her rise as the product of diversity programmes.
• The Conservative leader noted she frequently faces racist abuse online, alongside rising ethno-nationalist rhetoric about her identity and achievements.

The leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she is being unfairly targeted because of her race and ethnicity.

Badenoch explained that some of her critics refuse to acknowledge her victory as party leader, instead attributing it to diversity policies.

Speaking with The Times, she revealed that both allies and opponents within political circles suggested her rise was not based on merit.

“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.

According to her, the level of personal attacks has reached what she described as “hysterical.”

She added, “People used to talk about Trump derangement syndrome. I think there’s a Kemi derangement syndrome.”

The 45-year-old, who spent her early years in Nigeria before relocating to Britain at 16, said she often faces racist abuse online.

She condemned attempts to frame her emergence as proof that black people are either “lazy, corrupt or simply diversity hires.”

Badenoch insisted that such claims are untrue, stressing that she judges people “at face value” rather than through stereotypes.

She also noted that Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary who lost to her in the Conservative leadership contest, was not responsible for the attacks.

“There’s a whole swathe of stuff online: a lot of ethno-nationalism, a lot of stories about my race and ethnicity,” she explained.

“People who used these tropes were trying to tell a story about me that is wholly untrue, and which everyone around me knows is untrue,” she added.

Badenoch stated that even Jenrick found the false claims distressing, though she admitted such controversies had become part of political life.

Her leadership began shortly after the Labour Party under Prime Minister Keir Starmer defeated the Conservatives in the last general election, ending 14 years of Tory rule.

Amid declining approval ratings, however, there have been speculations that her party may be considering a change in leadership.