Newly elected Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has been condemned over an unearthed image that shows her making a joke about rape on her personal Facebook page.
The former women and equalities minister has been criticised by anti-domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid, which said it was appalled by the image.
In a post on her own page dated from January 2008, which was still visible on her profile as recently as this week, Ms Badenoch shared an image of three men with the caption: “The Drummond beer rape incident.”
The picture shows a man lying on the floor, while another man sits on top of him holding a bottle and a third man covers his mouth and nose.
Women’s Aid called for Ms Badenoch to take responsibility for the post, suggesting jokes about sexual violence perpetuate abuse and misogynistic attitudes towards women.
Sophie Francis-Cansfield, the charity’s head of policy, told The Independent: “Rape and sexual assault are no laughing matter, and making light of them trivialises the very real and traumatic experiences of countless women and girls.
“There is an epidemic of violence against women and girls which is deep-rooted in misogynistic attitudes like those demonstrated in this ‘joke’.
“Political figures must take responsibility for their words and actions, whether they are recent or not, and act in a way that challenges abuse instead of perpetuating it.”
The Badenoch campaign said the photo was “from the 1990s during Kemi's uni days and had been captioned by her friends at the time”.
They added that Ms Badenoch has “been clear she believes this sort of ‘offence archaeology’ has no place in political debate”.
While the photograph appears to have been taken years earlier, the image and its caption were shared on Facebook by Ms Badenoch on 26 January 2008, when the now Tory leader would have been in her late twenties.
Ms Badenoch was announced as the new leader of the Conservative Party on Saturday morning, following a vote of the membership at the culmination of a race to replace Rishi Sunak that began when the former PM resigned after the general election loss.
She beat her rival Robert Jenrick by more than 10,000 votes, and told her party: “We have to be honest; honest about the fact that we made mistakes, honest about the fact that we let standards slip.”
She is expected to appoint a shadow cabinet over the coming days.
The former women and equalities minister has been a strong advocate for protecting women’s spaces and has been vocal on the issue of rape and sexual violence.
Ms Badenoch has opposed self-identification for trans people, something she claims is linked to the protection of women from sexual violence. In May, she vowed she will “never stop defending” the rights of women after receiving letters and cards from rape victims urging her to continue.
