Kemi Badenoch 'has no idea what she's talking about' on colonialism, says message leaker

23 September 2021, 13:43 | Updated: 23 September 2021, 20:49

Former colleague of Equalities Minister discusses text controversy

The person who leaked texts where Kemi Badenoch said she didn't care about colonialism tells LBC she 'has no idea what she's talking about.

Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch has come under fire for messages she sent in 2018 where it is alleged she doesn't care about colonialism.

Funmi Adebayo, who leaked the messages to VICE World News, joined Nick Ferrari to share their reasoning for releasing the conversation.

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"She's completely incorrect and she has no idea what she's talking about." The former Conservative party member told Nick.

"She's single-handedly the reason why I left the Conservative party because I felt that if someone that ignorant was going to be in a position of power, and progress up, I had no business being part of the party."

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Whatsapp conversations obtained by VICE World News show what appears to be a conversation between Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch and Funmi Adebayo. The Equalities Minister is alleged to have said:

"I don't care about colonialism because [I] know what we were doing before colonialism got there. They came in and just made a different bunch of winners and losers."

"There was never any concept of "rights", so [the] people who lost out were old elites[,] not every day people."

Nick asked the CEO of Black Monologues what they found most offensive about the Equalities Minister's comments.

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"Not caring," the ex-Tory replied.

They went on to argue that Ms Badenoch is "not fit for the position" she holds in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office for her views on colonialism.

"Why did you choose to make the private conversation public?" Nick wondered.

"You can't hold a position you are unfit to lead" Adebayo said.

Quizzed on why they didn't make the comments public at the time they were made, Funmi Adebayo insisted "there was no reason for me to believe that she would be in the position she is now".

"Someone like that does not deserve any grace from me", they concluded.

A Government spokesperson said: "The Government does not comment on leaked private correspondence."