Britain is the best country in the world to be black, Kemi Badenoch has declared, as she accused Labour of bending the knee at the “altar of intolerance”.
The business secretary accused the opposition of pushing “a narrative of hopelessness” on young people, as she widened the Conservative attack on the “metropolitan bubble” to race and gender.
She was also careful to lavish praise on Rishi Sunak for his “intellect and work ethic”, in an effort to dampen speculation about a future leadership bid. As one of the frontrunners to take over should the Tories lose the election, Badenoch repeatedly saluted the “brave” prime minister as she tries to put to bed suspicions of manoeuvring against him.
After a conference in which ministers have used a retreat on green policies to draw dividing lines with Labour, Badenoch claimed the Conservatives were “on the side of those who toil, not those who tweet”.
During a combative address in which she declared “I’m not a difficult woman but I do like doing difficult things”, Badenoch delighted the Tory grassroots by attacking Labour for denigrating Britain and thinking “the answer to everything is the EU”.
She said that “our political opponents are obsessed with viewing every problem as Brexit, relentlessly talking down our country”, promising to “set the record straight”.
“I love my country, I love my party and I love my job,” Badenoch said.
“Everywhere I go other countries speak with nothing but admiration and respect for Britain. Then I feel a twinge of sadness, because I remember that our political opponents back home and their friends in the media continue to speak about our country like it’s an irrelevant nation. We reject this narrative.”
Arguing that only the Tories would “tell the truth” on race, Badenoch, who is also equalities minister, attacked a left-wing “narrative that says there is no point in trying, because British society is against you and you’re better off asking for reparations, a narrative that tells children like mine that the odds are stacked against them”.
She insisted: “I tell my children that is the best country in the world to be black — because it’s a country that sees people, not labels.”
Badenoch, who was born in Britain to Nigerian parents and was partly educated in Lagos, attacked “the divisive agenda of critical race theory” as she quoted Martin Luther King’s dream of people being judged “on the content of their character” rather than the colour of their skin.
“If that puts us in conflict with those who would re-racialise society, who would put up the divisions that have been torn down — well, conference, all I can say is: bring it on.”
Dismissing accusations of “fighting a culture war”, Badenoch said: “We will not apologise for fighting for common sense.”
Badenoch, who has taken a hardline gender critical stance on trans issues, also insisted she “will not apologise for fighting for a society that knows what a woman is”. She said that “if Labour MPs can’t tell us what a woman is, what else aren’t they telling us?”
She criticised “shameful” self-ID rules in Scotland that she claimed would have “let convicted rapists pretend that they were actually women so they could be housed in a women’s prison with potential new victims”.
Praising gender-critical groups for “refusing to be cancelled and speaking the truth”, Badenoch declared: “There is no other party that will defend common sense”.
[deleted]
She might want to have a word with Braverman, two tools, two jobs, both useless.
Great place to be a delusional Tory MP promoted far above your ability
Kind of conflicts with their core “we don’t really want a lot more new black people” policies, doesn’t it?
Telling people it’s great here is hardly going to discourage migration.
I’m not black, so I don’t have personal experience to go by, but she might be right.
The best place to be any person would be a rich country, because life is better in rich countries than poor countries. There aren’t any majority black countries which are rich countries, so which rich country has the least structural racism holding black people back and the least general interpersonal racism?
Just because there’s nowhere better doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is amazing either. There’s always room for improvement in many things. And I’d argue that under 13 years of Tories, unless you’re filthy rich, Britain has become a lot worse to be anybody, white, black, male, female, young, and old.
The way she puts it is flat out wrong, saying people in the UK don’t see labels they see people. Kemi has a history of downplaying racism.
UK is one of the better places to be black though, from my experience the best cities are London, New York, Atlanta and Paris for the west.
“Britain is the worst place to be black.”
Keith, 36, a white British person whose only interaction with a black person was in a nightclub toilet in 2007.
Oh yeah, definitely believe that from the “multiculturalism has failed” party
To some degree she is probably right however, the often trotted out narrative of its more about class than race in UK vs other places doesn’t match up to my experience. If anything coming across more middle class seems to work better in Europe and beyond than it does here. And this is years of experiences and different situations.
Party of corrupt racists claim racism is not a thing
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Britain is the best country in the world to be black, Kemi Badenoch has declared, as she accused Labour of bending the knee at the “altar of intolerance”.
The business secretary accused the opposition of pushing “a narrative of hopelessness” on young people, as she widened the Conservative attack on the “metropolitan bubble” to race and gender.
She was also careful to lavish praise on Rishi Sunak for his “intellect and work ethic”, in an effort to dampen speculation about a future leadership bid. As one of the frontrunners to take over should the Tories lose the election, Badenoch repeatedly saluted the “brave” prime minister as she tries to put to bed suspicions of manoeuvring against him.
After a conference in which ministers have used a retreat on green policies to draw dividing lines with Labour, Badenoch claimed the Conservatives were “on the side of those who toil, not those who tweet”.
During a combative address in which she declared “I’m not a difficult woman but I do like doing difficult things”, Badenoch delighted the Tory grassroots by attacking Labour for denigrating Britain and thinking “the answer to everything is the EU”.
She said that “our political opponents are obsessed with viewing every problem as Brexit, relentlessly talking down our country”, promising to “set the record straight”.
“I love my country, I love my party and I love my job,” Badenoch said.
“Everywhere I go other countries speak with nothing but admiration and respect for Britain. Then I feel a twinge of sadness, because I remember that our political opponents back home and their friends in the media continue to speak about our country like it’s an irrelevant nation. We reject this narrative.”
Arguing that only the Tories would “tell the truth” on race, Badenoch, who is also equalities minister, attacked a left-wing “narrative that says there is no point in trying, because British society is against you and you’re better off asking for reparations, a narrative that tells children like mine that the odds are stacked against them”.
She insisted: “I tell my children that is the best country in the world to be black — because it’s a country that sees people, not labels.”
Badenoch, who was born in Britain to Nigerian parents and was partly educated in Lagos, attacked “the divisive agenda of critical race theory” as she quoted Martin Luther King’s dream of people being judged “on the content of their character” rather than the colour of their skin.
“If that puts us in conflict with those who would re-racialise society, who would put up the divisions that have been torn down — well, conference, all I can say is: bring it on.”
Dismissing accusations of “fighting a culture war”, Badenoch said: “We will not apologise for fighting for common sense.”
Badenoch, who has taken a hardline gender critical stance on trans issues, also insisted she “will not apologise for fighting for a society that knows what a woman is”. She said that “if Labour MPs can’t tell us what a woman is, what else aren’t they telling us?”
She criticised “shameful” self-ID rules in Scotland that she claimed would have “let convicted rapists pretend that they were actually women so they could be housed in a women’s prison with potential new victims”.
Praising gender-critical groups for “refusing to be cancelled and speaking the truth”, Badenoch declared: “There is no other party that will defend common sense”.
[deleted]
She might want to have a word with Braverman, two tools, two jobs, both useless.
Great place to be a delusional Tory MP promoted far above your ability
Kind of conflicts with their core “we don’t really want a lot more new black people” policies, doesn’t it?
Telling people it’s great here is hardly going to discourage migration.
I’m not black, so I don’t have personal experience to go by, but she might be right.
The best place to be any person would be a rich country, because life is better in rich countries than poor countries. There aren’t any majority black countries which are rich countries, so which rich country has the least structural racism holding black people back and the least general interpersonal racism?
Just because there’s nowhere better doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is amazing either. There’s always room for improvement in many things. And I’d argue that under 13 years of Tories, unless you’re filthy rich, Britain has become a lot worse to be anybody, white, black, male, female, young, and old.
The way she puts it is flat out wrong, saying people in the UK don’t see labels they see people. Kemi has a history of downplaying racism.
UK is one of the better places to be black though, from my experience the best cities are London, New York, Atlanta and Paris for the west.
“Britain is the worst place to be black.”
Keith, 36, a white British person whose only interaction with a black person was in a nightclub toilet in 2007.
Oh yeah, definitely believe that from the “multiculturalism has failed” party
To some degree she is probably right however, the often trotted out narrative of its more about class than race in UK vs other places doesn’t match up to my experience. If anything coming across more middle class seems to work better in Europe and beyond than it does here. And this is years of experiences and different situations.
Party of corrupt racists claim racism is not a thing