Britain’s acceptance of others is at risk of being eroded by people on ‘both extremes’, Kemi Badenoch has warned.
The Conservative leader said those who ‘pretend’ the UK is an awful place for ethnic minorities, and those who promote ethno-nationalism, are damaging society.
She said both groups ‘need to be dealt with’ so children do not grow up in a segregated society akin to apartheid South Africa.
Speaking to the Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth podcast, Mrs Badenoch also said she did not experience ‘meaningful’ prejudice after moving from Nigeria to the UK permanently.
Born in Wimbledon, south London, to her Nigerian parents, mother a professor and father a doctor, she was raised in Lagos before coming back as a teen.
Asked if she was made conscious of her ‘blackness’ after coming to Britain, she said: ‘Never. And I think that this is one of the things that probably made me an outlier.
‘I knew I was going to a place where I would look different from everybody and I didn’t think that was odd.
‘What I found actually quite interesting was that people didn’t treat me differently. It’s why I am so quick to defend the UK whenever there are accusations of racism.
‘I did not experience prejudice in any meaningful form. That doesn’t mean prejudice doesn’t exist or that it doesn’t happen. Many people do [experience it], but I didn’t, not seriously.
‘I had a couple of instances at school which now I look back and I think “Well, that might have been prejudice” but even then, when I talk about the soft bigotry of lower expectations, teachers saying “You don’t need to go to all these fancy universities, just to this poly or this former poly”.
‘Some of it was just coming from what they thought was a good place, they thought they were being helpful or they were well-meaning.
‘I don’t think they were trying to disadvantage me. So I didn’t feel that way.’ But Mrs Badenoch, who moved permanently to the UK when she was 16 in 1996 because of economic turmoil in Nigeria, warned that things could get worse.
The mother-of-three said it would be a ‘dereliction of duty’ to leave a worse world to her children.
She added: ‘I have mixed race children. Making sure we keep a socially cohesive society, one where the colour of your skin doesn’t matter any more than the colour of your eyes or your hair, is quite important. I think we’ve done such a brilliant job in the UK and that’s in danger of turning because of people on both extremes.
‘Those who want to pretend this is the most awful place in the world to live if you’re an ethnic minority, they’ve created a lot of damage, but now we’re also seeing a rise in ethno-nationalism, of people who are trying to pretend that those of us who are different skin colours are not meant to be here. I don’t want [my children] to grow up in a society that is like South Africa was, where people were segregated or where the colour of their skin is something to be noted.’
The Tory leader also revealed she still bears the marks of a tough upbringing in Nigeria.
‘I think my worst experience would have been being sent away from home, having to live in what was quite a brutal boarding school.
‘I had to fetch water from a borehole. My soft baby hands were calloused. I think they are still calloused actually 35 years later from doing that.’
Daily Mail UK
