Kemi Badenoch Condemns Racist Attacks by Reform UK Ally

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch condemned a series of social media posts by Raheem Kassam, a former senior aide to Nigel Farage, who called her a "Nigerian scammer." Badenoch characterized the comments as racist attacks and argued that Reform UK politicians were attempting to use her race to improve their own political standing. She stated that such tactics would not work because Britain is not a racist country.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage described the comments as "over the top" but denied they were intentionally racist, asserting that mentioning someone grew up in Nigeria is not a racist act. Robert Jenrick, a former Conservative who defected to Reform UK and now serves as the party's Treasury spokesman, also refused to condemn the remarks. Jenrick described the posts as potentially rude or unpleasant but stated it was not his place to police the tweets of party supporters. He further alleged that Badenoch had lied about a past scholarship to Stanford University.

The conflict drew criticism from the Labour Party, with a spokesperson accusing Jenrick of failing to call out blatant racism against his former party leader.