Kemi Badenoch cries out, says she's facing more attacks, racist abuse as UK conservative leader

 Kemi Badenoch has spoken openly about the racism she has endured as the first black woman to lead the Conservative Party, admitting she has been surprised by the scale of the abuse.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, she described a barrage of personal attacks, both online and from a small number of MPs, labelling the hostility as “Kemi derangement syndrome.”

She noted a rise in ethno-nationalist rhetoric on social media, stating that critics questioned her achievements due to her race and ethnicity.

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 it’s 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?’"

She added that on social media, “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 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 it’s 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?’"

She added that on social media, “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, who was born in Wimbledon but grew up in Nigeria before moving back to the UK aged 16, rarely speaks at length about her race or heritage.

She has previously said she no longer feels Nigerian and has frequently criticised anti-racism campaigners and critical race theory.

She told the Sunday Times: “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.