Kemi Badenoch has spoken out about the “hysterical” attacks she faces from critics who say she only became Tory leader because she is black.
Mrs Badenoch said some of the criticism aimed at her was “about my race and my ethnicity” and suggestions that “she couldn’t possibly have done this all by herself”.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, she said some believed she only got her position through diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
She said: “There’s a certain cadre of people who clearly can’t cope with the fact that I won this and I’m doing it. The level of personal attacks from anonymous people, it’s hysterical.
“Not even just from MPs. I actually don’t think it’s that many MPs. I think it’s two to three people out of 120. That’s nothing. But online as well.
“People used to talk about Trump derangement syndrome. I think there’s a Kemi derangement syndrome – ‘How could she possibly have done this? It must have been DEI’.”
She says that on social media “there’s a lot of ethno-nationalism creeping up, lots of stuff about my race and my ethnicity and the tropes around, ‘well, she couldn’t possibly have done this all by herself’.”
She rejected claims she was lazy and late for engagements: “They will try and use the tropes about black people – that they’re lazy, they’re corrupt or they’re all DEI hires – and it’s something which I find extraordinary because I take everyone at face value.”
Mrs Badenoch also criticised the “sore losers” pushing for Robert Jenrick to replace her.
Shadow justice secretary Mr Jenrick, who was defeated by Mrs Badenoch in last year’s leadership contest, has built a following with a series of slick social media videos, including putting up English flags and tackling fare dodgers.
Mrs Badenoch suggested it was “wishful thinking” by his supporters that he could replace her, and claimed Mr Jenrick found the situation “distressing”.
She said: “There will always be people who are sore losers, our candidate didn’t win and so on, and sour grapes. When I hear those things, I can tell those people are not focused on the country at all.
“Many of those people having those conversations think this is a game. But the lives of people in this country aren’t a game.”
She added: “I think even Rob himself finds it distressing, but it’s just something that we deal with.”
Mrs Badenoch has so far failed to revive the Tories’ fortunes, with the party lagging behind both Reform UK and Labour in opinion polls, but says her task is harder than previous opposition leaders because of the emergence of a rival on the right.
“There are now more people competing for that oxygen of attacking the Government,” she said.
People are “angry because of things that Labour is doing” and “they are angry because they think that we left the country in a bad state”.
“I think people are legitimate in that anger.”
She said her task was tougher than that faced by William Hague after the 1997 Labour landslide: “We’ve got fewer MPs, and we’ve got this new problem with Reform taking a lot of our votes.”
She said it was going to be “a proper uphill task” but her job was to make sure the Tories remained “a force in British politics”.
Describing Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as a “bullshit artist” she said his party was “just about pulling things down and destroying things”.
