Kemi Badenoch has expressed shock at the level of racial abuse she has received since becoming the first Black woman to lead the Conservative Party, despite earlier proclaiming Britain “the best place in the world to be Black.”
In an interview with the Sunday Times, she reported a flood of personal insults, both online and by a tiny number of MPs, referring to the hatred as “Kemi derangement syndrome”.
She reported an increase in ethno-nationalist language on social media, claiming that critics questioned her accomplishments because of her race and origin.
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 is 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?”
On Twitter, the Tory leader said, “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 was born in Wimbledon and reared in Nigeria before returning to the United Kingdom at the age of 16. She has previously distanced herself from her Nigerian background.
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The Sunday Times quoted Badenoch on Saturday, saying, “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. I remember when I stood up a few years ago and said Britain is not a racist country—ethnic minorities do very well here; it is white working-class boys who are actually struggling on a lot of metrics—and I got pilloried for that.
“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.”
As she prepares for her first party conference speech, Badenoch confronts leadership challenges, including talk about a possible move by shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, with the Conservatives polling at 17%.
She dismissed such reports as “wishful thinking” and “sour grapes”, accusing naysayers of viewing politics as a game.
“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,” she said.
