Nigel Farage has accused Kemi Badenoch of being “totally disingenuous” after it emerged she supported several diversity initiatives while in government.
Inclusive Britain, a report published while Badenoch was equalities minister, pushed for “actionable recommendations” on reducing the ethnicity pay gap in the NHS. The report then touted the publication of the NHS equality, diversity and inclusion improvement plan as an example of progress made on the subject.
The 97-page report also pledged to reduce prosecutions for drug-related offences, noting that the young adults involved are “often from ethnic minority backgrounds”.
The review, fronted by a lengthy foreword from Badenoch, promised further investment into cracking down on racial discrimination in the workplace.
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Badenoch also commissioned work to review “how media coverage of race and ethnicity issues impact the communities being covered”.
The Conservative leader has criticised diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) schemes, saying last year: “Whether it’s pronouns, or DEI, or climate activism, these issues aren’t about kindness – they are about control”.
Farage, the Reform UK leader, said: “Judge Kemi Badenoch by her actions in government, not by her political posturing today. The Tory party are totally disingenuous, as is their leader”.
A Conservative Party source said: “Inclusive Britain was a landmark report that defended Britain against left-wing accusations that we are a racist nation.
“The report explained that many of the barriers holding back opportunities for ethnic minorities were not caused by racism, but by a complex range of factors.
“It set out an action plan to address those and improve lives, all while rejecting identity politics. It was decried by various politicians and groups who want to divide society into racial groups, and rather than smear the work, Nigel Farage would do well to learn from the report’s impressive authors”.
A Reform source argued that the report shows Badenoch “could not even control her own government department”, and said “her civil servants carried on pushing woke, politically correct nonsense under her nose”.
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They added: “Kemi says the Tories made mistakes and got it wrong. But she was driving the car when it crashed. She never resigned, never took responsibility, never listened and never solved the problems she helped create.”
Reform highlighted several other pieces of policy, which they label as “woke”, which were passed during Badenoch’s time in the role.
These include a two-year research project into potential racial bias in medical devices and a review into ethnic identity terminology which concluded that “ethnicity data should be reflective of how people want to self-identify”.
In government, Badenoch accused companies of wasting money on diversity training in the workplace, saying it was “ineffective” and failed to achieve its stated objectives.
The Inclusion at Work Panel, which was formed as a result of the Inclusive Britain review, said that if organisations were “serious about evidence-based diversity practice”, there were “compelling reasons why they should stop investing heavily in diversity training”.
