The day before Kemi Badenoch promised Trump-style mass deportations during her Tory conference speech, she defended Conservative MP Robert Jenrick over his complaints he hadn’t seen “another white face’ in a Birmingham neighbourhood.
As the Tories shift further right, Badenoch has become aggressive about immigration, even denying her own Nigerian identity. This contrasts with her early days in politics, and her recent complaints of a creeping “ethno-nationalism” when she was labelled an “anchor baby”. As we approach the first anniversary of her troubled reign, I look at the two sides of Kemi.
