Robert Jenrick refuses to call Farage ally’s attack on Kemi Badenoch ‘racist’
A rattled Robert Jenrick deflected questions about the high-profile Reform supporter’s comments
Reform’s Robert Jenrick has refused to condemn Raheem Kassam’s comments as “racist” after Nigel Farage’s longtime ally called Kemi Badenoch a “Nigerian scammer” on social media.
In one post on X, Kassam wrote of Badenoch: “How are people still falling for this Nigerian scammer? Don’t give her your credit card number and bank account details!”.
In others he said: “So Kemi, tell us the truth. Are you a walking gaffe or an illegal immigrant?’ and pointedly used her full name – Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch.”
When LBC’s Lewis Goodall asked Jenrick if he condemned Kassam’s comments as racist yesterday, the Reform MP refused to give a straight answer.
A rattled Jenrick responded to the LBC presenter, saying: “Are you really going to chuck at me the comments of random journalists?”.
Goodall pointed out that he was Farage’s former chief of staff when he was at UKIP and referred to ITV’s recent undercover investigation which showed multiple Reform councillors making racist and sexist remarks.
Jenrick dismissed Kassam’s comments, stating: “This is not someone who is employed by Reform, he has no role in Reform […] It’s just a journalist.”
“Do you think it’s racist to call Kemi Badenoch a Nigerian scammer, yes or no?,” Goodall pressed.
The Reform MP responded: “Well she said that she was Nigerian, […] and I presume what he is referring to here is that she told a big lie and said she’d been offered a scholarship for pre-med at Stanford University …”.
The LBC journalist asked Jenrick again whether Kassam’s comments were racist or not.
Jenrick told Goodall: “Get Raheem Kassam onto your show.”
Goodall cut in: ”Why won’t you just say yes? Let’s just say if someone phoned up now and called her a Nigerian scammer would say that was racist, yes or no?”.
Jenrick replied: “Let me ask you now, firstly, why did you not report the fact that she made up the fact that she had been offered a pre-med scholarship”.
He said LBC should be doing an “undercover investigation” into that.
Goodall replied: “You’re good at dissembling, aren’t you, Robert Jenrick? Your party indulges in a lot of ‘whataboutery’.”
Last week, fellow Reform MP Danny Kruger also refused to condemn Kassam’s comments, which he described as “a bit of rumbustious debate online”.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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