Kemi Badenoch doubles down on claim she 'became working class' when she got job at McDonald's
26 September 2024, 00:09
Kemi Badenoch has doubled down on her claim that she "became working class" when she got a job at McDonald's.
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Speaking to LBC's Iain Dale, Ms Badenoch said she came to this country "with no money, no friends, no parents".
She said at that point in her life she was working class as she "had to work to eat".
It came after the Tory leadership hopeful claimed last week that she grew up in a middle-class family but "became working class" after securing a job at the fast food chain.
She stood by what she said on Wednesday - despite widespread mocking online over the remarks.
Read more: Kemi Badenoch claims she 'became working class' after working in McDonald’s
Kemi Badenoch doubles down on McDonald's claims
"I said I became working class when I turned 16 - but what made me working class was the fact that I came to this country with no money, no friends, no parents, I had a place to stay but I had to work to eat otherwise I would starve, and that in my view is what that means," Ms Badenoch explained.
She continued: "I grew up in a middle class family but coming here I became working class - my dad gave me his last £100, he said 'you know this is all we have' because all our money was gone and this is one of the things that people don't understand.
"That, because I've lived somewhere else and I've seen how things can go wrong, I have a very visceral reaction to bad policy here. I lived in a country where there was hyperinflation. My family's money was inflated away - it turned into nothing.
"I watched a government put in left wing policies the destroyed the economy, there was capital flight, people wanted to leave they couldn't get out.
"I've seen downward social mobility - we talk about social mobility in this country as if it's something that only goes up and it is a secret that every immigrant to this country knows that you can go backwards and that is why I think you find a lot of people from immigrant backgrounds being very aspirational.
"You know this tiger mum phenomenon that we see, it's because many of them know what it is like to live in a place where there are a lot of poor people and it can happen very quickly and that's the point I was making.
"But what is interesting is the reaction to that. It is unique in this country, the way we police class when actually a lot of people here no longer fit into the class system as it used to be.
"I'm not working class, I'm middle class now, but for a point in my life when I had to walk everywhere because I didn't have enough money to get on the bus and I was working at McDonalds yeah I was…"
