Leader of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom (UK), Kemi Badenoch, has revealed the depth of racial abuse she has endured since emerging as the first black woman to head the party, describing the scale of the hostility as “hysterical”.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Badenoch, who represents North West Essex in Parliament, admitted that while criticism from fellow MPs has been limited, the barrage of vitriol she receives online from racists has been overwhelming.
“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. “The level of personal attacks from anonymous people, it’s hysterical … 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.”
Badenoch, who was born in Wimbledon but raised in Nigeria before returning to the UK at 16, disclosed that most of the abuse centres on her race and background, with many claiming she could not have attained her current position on merit.
“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’,” she lamented.
The Conservative leader, who has previously declared that Britain remains the best place in the world for black people, reiterated her conviction that the country is not inherently racist. She recalled being criticised in the past for stating that “ethnic minorities do very well here, but it is white working-class boys who are actually struggling on a lot of metrics”.
“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,” she added.
Badenoch now faces a crucial test of leadership amid speculation of internal dissent and murmurs of a possible challenge by her shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick. She dismissed such rumours as “wishful thinking” fuelled by “sore losers”.
“There will always be people who are sore losers, our candidate didn’t win, and so on, and sour grapes … 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 warned.
Badenoch’s rise, often framed as a milestone for diversity in British politics, has equally exposed the deep divisions within society over race, identity, and belonging – issues that may define her tenure as she leads the Conservatives into a new chapter.
