UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has criticised Reform UK MPs over what she described as attempts to question the identity and Englishness of people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Badenoch said she did not want to live in a country where journalists are threatened, veterans are called traitors, or people debate whether her mixed-race children are English.
“I don’t want to explain to my son, when we’re watching our brilliant England team play football, that some people don’t think our black players are English,” she said.
Recalling former England players Ian Wright and John Barnes, Badenoch said their English identity was not questioned when they represented the national team.
“I remember back in the day when Ian Wright and John Barnes were playing. Nobody was questioning whether they were English. We certainly didn’t have sitting MPs questioning whether they were English,” she said.
She warned against what she described as attempts to take the country backwards, insisting that such views did not represent the Britain she believed in.
“We must not let these people take us backwards. That is not the country we are,” Badenoch said.
She further accused Reform MPs of openly questioning people’s identities, adding, “They are not like us. We are not like them. We are different. We are the Conservative Party.”
About The Author
More Stories
We’re Mobilising All Women Selling Akara Across Markets and Office Workers For Tinubu’s Re-Election— South-South APC Women Leader
Foreigners are now seeking Nigerian passports– Abike Dabiri-Erewa says
Relations decry exclusion of dead ex-Nigeria Airways workers from payments