Robert Jenrick refuses to condemn 'racist' 'Nigerian scammer' remarks about Kemi Badenoch by Reform ally

Robert Jenrick was repeatedly offered the opportunity to denounce comments made by a long-time Farage ally calling Kemi Badenoch a "Nigerian scammer" and declined. Raheem Kassam, who was Chief of Staff under Nigel Farage's former party UKIP, described the leader of the opposition as "a Nigerian scammer" on X, and warned people not to give her their bank details. The comments were slammed by Conservative party chairman Kevin Hollinrake, who accused the former adviser of "launching racist slurs" and said it was "time for Mr Farage to come clean" about the role Mr Kassam plays within Reform UK.

"Reform say there is no room for racism inside their party. How does that square with the fact Mr Kassam still seems to retain close ties to Mr Farage, while simultaneously launching racist slurs against the Leader of the Opposition?' When asked about Mr Kassam's comments on LBC's Sunday with Lewis Goodall, Mr Jenrick refused to condemn them as racist, referring to Mr Kassam as a "random journalist" and "not someone who is employed by Reform".

"Well, [Kemi Badenoch] said that she was Nigerian, and I presume what he is referring to - I don't know, I've never spoken to [Raheem Kassam] about this. Read more: Labour sees another 'Burnham bounce' poll boost to 32% ahead of crunch budget week Read more: 'Taxes are high because we need to invest in Britain', says Angela Rayner "I presume what he is referring to here is the fact that she told a big lie and said that she'd been offered a scholarship for pre-med at Stanford University."

When pressed by Lewis to condemn the language, noting that Mr Kassam was a longtime ally of the Reform party leader and that the comments lent heavily on racial stereotypes, Mr Jenrick stressed he was "not on [LBC] to talk about what a journalist has tweeted", and that Mr Kassam was in no way officially affiliated with Reform. "You're wasting time debating what a journalist has said rather than asking me about things that I can control myself, which is what is the position of Reform, for example, on freedom of movement?"

Speaking with Mr Kassam later in the show, the former UKIP adviser defended the comment as a "tongue in cheek joke on Twitter", and doubled-down on his "scammer" comments, attributing them to Ms Badenoch's comments saying she loved Nigeria as much as she loved Britain. Mr Kassam, who lives in the US, added that he had never been officially affiliated with Reform UK, and said he last officially worked for Nigel Farage "over a decade ago", but admitted that he visits Reform HQ regularly when he is in the UK.

"I visit all the time. Whenever I am back in the country, I visit my friends in the Tory party, I visit my friends in parliament, I visit my friends at Reform HQ. "I've been to Reform events - I've been to lots of Reform events. I've been to lots of Tory events. I've been to Labour and Lib Dem events too...I visit my friends." The comments come in the wake of a racism row within Reform UK, after ITV News broadcast undercover filming, gathered over a year, of some of its councillors and candidates using racist, violent and sexist language.

In the film, Undercover: A Year in Reform, a Reform councillor and deputy mayor of Solihull is recorded calling Asian homeowners "parasites" who had "infested" some areas of the UK. Speaking on the controversy, a Reform spokesman said investigations had been launched "where members, activists and councillors have clearly behaved inappropriately" and some suspensions had also occurred. It comes after promises from Reform leader Nigel Farage to root out "bad apples" from his party.