Tory leader Kemi Badenoch closed the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, England, by scolding Reform UK supporters who treat Englishness as an ethnic identity rather than a civic one. The politician she specifically targeted was Reform lawmaker Suella Braverman, who has stated that she regards herself as British Indian and believes English people with deep ancestral roots possess a distinct identity.
Badenoch told her audience: “Reform MPs are openly questioning people’s identity. They are not like us. We are not like them. We are different. We are the Conservative Party.” She added, “I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but I am black. I am British. I’m proud of my country, I’m proud of our history.”
Braverman, born and raised in England by Indian parents, has said she does not regard herself as English because “Englishness is an ethnicity. There have been English people for centuries, and we need to recognize this more if we are to start taking a more muscular approach to citizenship and nationality.”
Badenoch was born in England to a Nigerian mother who traveled to the country just to give birth and was taken back to Nigeria shortly afterward. In December 2024, she told The Spectator: “I identify less with the country than with the specific ethnicity [Yoruba].” Earlier this year, while standing for election as Kemi Adegoke, she wrote in a letter: “Like you, I am sick and tired of reading that Nigerians are fraudsters, terrorists, bombing airplanes or slaughtering each other in places like Jos.”
