Kemi Badenoch, leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, has said “racist attacks” against her will not work, after Raheem Kassam, a former aide to Nigel Farage, described her as a “Nigerian scammer”.
Badenoch spoke during an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Thursday, following a series of posts by Kassam criticising her.
Kassam described Badenoch as an “unrelenting scammer” who had used her Nigerian background to advance her career when it suited her.
In a separate post, he asked how people could still fall for “this Nigerian scammer?”
“Don’t give her your credit card number and bank account details,” he added.
Earlier this week, Farage, leader of Reform UK, was questioned about his former aide’s comments in a BBC interview.
When asked if he considered the remarks racist, Farage said Kassam was of Indian heritage.
He added that Kassam’s description of Badenoch as a “Nigerian scammer” did not necessarily mean the words were connected.
“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 comment as “over the top” but said he did not believe it was deliberately racist.
Badenoch, however, brushed off the remarks during her ITV appearance.
“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.”