Kemi Badenoch Quotes

Too often black people are confronted with an assumption that there is only one way to be black, and that anyone who doesn’t conform is a ‘coconut’ an ‘Uncle Tom’ (or as Ms Dent Coad stated in her blog, a ‘token’). It implies we are too stupid to understand what it means to be conservative, or are race traitors.

Everyone is so fascinated that I voted Leave. I find that interesting in itself. As an economic liberal, I want to see Britain trading more freely around the world.

I’ve been out of work myself and hated it. Any work, even on a minimum wage, is better than none.

Most black British people who have come to our shores were not brought here in chains, but came voluntarily due to their connections to the U.K. and in search of a better life. I should know: I am one of them.

I’m black but I’m also a woman, a Mum.

The right has to be more than the Tory party.

My children are mixed race. I want them to think: ‘This is our country, our father’s family has been here for thousands of years.’

I am a black conservative.

Before any decision is made on proposals for ending conversion therapy we must understand the problem, the range of options available and the impact they would have.

It’s not just about being free to marry who you want, you now want to have men using women’s bathrooms.

With the rise of identity politics, the expression of naked prejudice against members of a supposedly privileged group has become mainstream.

We’ve got gay marriage, and civil partnerships, so what are transsexuals looking for?

My favorite artist has not changed since I was five years old: Michael Jackson.

Friends’ was the biggest television series of all time. Everybody loved it, it was syndicated all around the world. The idea that in a few years people are talking about it as if it’s this horrific series, for me that just doesn’t compute.

Labour has lots of groups of people, whether it’s public sector workers, nurses and so on who will push their policies out for them. The right-wing equivalent, whether it’s businesses, the Church etc, don’t say anything. They all hide behind Conservative politicians.

As the minister for faith as well as equalities, I’m proud to champion our work with faith leaders to help overcome vaccine hesitancy in mothers from religious and ethnic groups.

People are rightly concerned about what Brexit will mean for the country, for their jobs and for their families.

The truth is that our freedoms are being subtly eroded in an era where emotion and sentiment are prized above reason and rationality.

Identity politics may claim to defend the rights of individuals, but increasingly it has become a mechanism for undermining the freedom of people to hold and express an opposing view.

Don’t let Labour’s stereotypes and low expectations hold you back, and never let them treat you like a black sheep who will always follow them.

Both my parents are Nigerian, but my mother worked internationally so when she travelled so did the kids.

Being different means you are noticed more, and sometimes that has been helpful.

Every party conference season, I’m struck by how much is spent on lobbying by the public affairs industry.

If you let people think they can get away with a certain type of behaviour, people will take advantage of it.

I love the philosophy around the rule of law.

I don’t think every offensive comment is racism. But when I see real prejudice I have to call it out.

People shouldn’t feel that advice has to come from people who look like them. Because if that happens, then the converse is true: where when an ethnic minority is speaking people might feel well this person is only speaking for their sub-group.

My experiences led me to the Conservative Party which embodied my belief in helping everyone reach their potential regardless of their background.

Bigotry and prejudice are not unique to groups that have held privilege, and ascribing views to entire groups rather than to specific individuals is illiberal.

Airey Neave’s escape from Colditz, quite possibly the most remarkable thing a British politician has ever done, defined his years to come. Disregarding senior officers who frowned on such attempts, Neave was undeterred against overwhelming odds and the risk of death.

Labour doesn’t have a monopoly on non-white people.

It is important to tackle racial discrimination. But these matters must be handled sensitively.

When my husband and I are getting into a taxi, I always stop the taxi and say where I want to go. My husband jumps in the car and says, ‘This is where we are going.’ That’s the same when men and women approach wanting to become a candidate.

I had a very tough upbringing. We all had to do something called ‘manual labour.’ Mostly it meant getting up at 5 A.M. and cutting grass endlessly.

I want people to realise we’re not just stuffy aristocrats and Old Etonians. There are black Tories and lots of middle and working-class people of different skin colour who are Conservatives.

Lumping everyone together in a group as a proxy for ‘not white’ is not how we deal with things from a health perspective.

Everyone in public life should judge ideas on the quality of their contents, not the identity of their proponents. Doing so is the only truly fair way of doing things.

As a proud mum of three, I know we all want what is best for our children – to protect and shield them from anything that would do them harm, especially a deadly virus.

Normalising the term ‘white privilege’ does not eliminate racism, it reinforces the notion that everyone and everything around ethnic minorities is racist and makes the majority white population more conscious about their race and exacerbates feelings of difference, creating a less cohesive society.

I tend to be such a generalist.

Our history is our own; it’s not America’s. Too often, those who campaign against racial inequality import wholesale a narrative and assumptions that have nothing to do with this country’s history and have no place on these islands.

We’re quick to complain about racism, sexism, homophobia, but it’s not as bad as people make out. If we’re going to be more cohesive, we have to be more relaxed about petty incidents and not find insult where none exists.

Group chats have proven popular breeding grounds for fake news, with dubious articles from even more dubious sources being shared and reshared at the touch of a smartphone.

People are a lot less likely to think that their family member is part of the government conspiracy.

In the papers, they were talking about how ‘Friends’ is now sort of really homophobic, transphobic and so on. That, for me, is a very, very – it’s actually a puritanical position, which I think of as conservative.

We should honour the memory of past members like Airey Neave by treating each other and the institution of parliament itself with more respect. Nobody should denigrate it for doing exactly what it should be doing – debating and arguing the most difficult and complex decisions of our time.

As equalities minister, I am responsible for promoting equality of opportunity for everyone.

Conversion therapy is a very complex issue.

I was unlucky enough to grow up under a military dictatorship which had very Left-wing, socialist policies. It’s not something I would wish on anyone.

I was lucky. I got university degrees and had a successful tech and finance career. But many of my generation weren’t.