The new leader of the UK Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has fired back at critics questioning her rise, accusing them of using racist stereotypes to undermine her success.
Speaking in an interview with The Times, Badenoch dismissed claims that she secured the leadership role due to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, insisting such suggestions were prejudiced.
“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. People used to talk about Trump derangement syndrome. I think there’s a Kemi derangement syndrome,” she said.
The 45-year-old politician, who grew up in Nigeria before moving to the UK at 16, said detractors often dismiss her achievements with remarks such as, “It must have been DEI”. She argued that this reinforces harmful stereotypes portraying black people as “lazy, corrupt or all DEI hires.”
Badenoch also revealed that she has faced a surge of racist abuse online since becoming party leader. However, she clarified that her former rival in the leadership race, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, was not behind the insinuations.
“There’s a whole swathe of stuff online: 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 noted.
She added that attempts to discredit her story are “wholly untrue,” stressing that those close to her — including Jenrick — know it to be false.
By directly addressing the criticism, Badenoch signaled her determination to define her leadership on merit and resist efforts to diminish her achievements.
