The leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has dismissed remarks by Raheem Kassam, a former aide to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, describing his comments about her Nigerian background as “racist attacks” that would not succeed.
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Badenoch spoke during an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Thursday, days after Kassam published a series of posts on X criticising her.
Kassam had described Badenoch as an “unrelenting scammer” and accused her of using her Nigerian background to advance her political career when it suited her.
“Kemi Badenoch is an unrelenting scammer, and she has used her Nigerian background as a means by which to advance her career when it suits her. Of that there can be no doubt,” Kassam wrote.
In another post, he asked how people could still fall for “this Nigerian scammer”, adding: “Don’t give her your credit card number and bank account details.”
Responding to the comments, Badenoch said the attacks would not undermine her because, in her view, Britain was not a racist country.
“I think it just shows the sort of people they are,” she said.
“I keep telling people that Reform politicians are not like Conservative politicians, and I want the Reform voters who were Conservatives to come home.
“This is what they’re spending their time on. They’re not talking about how they’re going to make people’s lives better. They’re spending most of their time attacking me. You’d think that I was the prime minister.
“I think they think that maybe using my race is a way for them to improve their standing.
“Britain is not a racist country and because it’s not a racist country, their racist attacks and using my race as an attack form is not going to work.”
The controversy also drew in Farage, who was questioned in a BBC interview about the remarks made by his former aide.
Asked whether he considered Kassam’s comments racist, Farage noted that Kassam was of Indian heritage and argued that the words “Nigerian” and “scammer” did not necessarily have to be read together as a racial attack.
“It’s pretty clear that Kemi Badenoch often does not tell the truth about things that have happened and tries her very best to reinvent her past,” Farage said.
“The word scammer is about someone who doesn’t always tell the truth. There are quite a few instances over the last couple of months of her not telling the truth.
“There are two different words. One is scammer, and the other is Nigerian. He’s of Indian heritage. Ask him how he describes himself. Kemi Badenoch calls herself British; she grew up in Nigeria. By the way, this is not a debate I’m getting involved in.”
Farage described Kassam’s remarks as “over the top” but said he did not believe they were deliberately racist.
Badenoch was also asked about the refusal of Robert Jenrick, who defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK, to condemn the remarks.
She used the opportunity to criticise Reform politicians, accusing them of focusing more on attacking her than on explaining how they intended to improve people’s lives.
Badenoch, who was born in London and grew up partly in Nigeria, has led the Conservative Party since November 2024.
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