Farage insists ‘Nigerian scammer’ jibe at Badenoch was not ‘intentionally racist’

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has insisted that describing Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch as a “Nigerian scammer” was not “intentionally racist”, during a tense BBC Breakfast interview on Tuesday.

The remark came from Raheem Kassam, a political activist, former Ukip adviser and prominent Reform UK supporter. He questioned on X whether Badenoch was a “walking gaffe or an illegal immigrant” and warned people not to give her their bank details. Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake accused Kassam of launching “racist slurs” at the leader of the opposition.

As HuffPost UK reported, Farage dodged when presenter Sally Nugent asked whether the remark was racist, saying Kassam was now based in America and was never his chief of staff. He then added: “He’s Indian! He’s of Indian heritage!”

“Does that mean he can’t be racist?” Nugent asked.

“I don’t know, you tell me,” Farage replied. He said “scammer” was “a strong word” but that Badenoch “does not tell the truth about what has happened.”

He described the issue as “a cultural argument about whether Kemi Badenoch, who grew up in Nigeria, considers herself Nigerian or British,” adding it was not a debate he would get involved in.

“Do I think the comment was over the top? Yes I do. Do I think it was intentionally racist? No I don’t,” Farage said.

Two other Reform UK MPs have also been questioned over the remarks. Danny Kruger dismissed them as “a bit of rambunctious debate online”, while Robert Jenrick refused to discuss “what a journalist has tweeted”.