A former Tory aide has urged Kemi Badenoch to quit her social media in 2025 to prevent further scraps with Nigel Farage.
Samuel Kasum, a former Conservative No 10 special advisor to Boris Johnson, has said Kemi Badenoch needs to stop getting into online fights after she accused Nigel Farage of “faking” the live membership ticker on the Reform UK website.
Talking to the BBC, Kasumu said: “Reform is in the ascendancy, and they have one of the most consequential politicians of all time as its leader. And the Conservatives have a new leader who is not as well known, not as credible, not as big a political beast. And so that it needs to be approached with great humility, in my view.”
He has urged Kemi Badeoch not to “always get involved in every fight”.
The ex-special advisor added: “I think the temptation to respond, particularly on X, when Nigel Farage says something needs to be curtailed, particularly Kemi. My advice to her would probably be in 2025 give up your Twitter login and give it to your comms team.”
His intervention comes after Badenoch incorrectly accused Reform UK of “faking” their membership tracker on the social media platform X. In response, Nigel Farage demanded an apology from the Tory leader and declared her North West Essex seat, which she holds with a 2,610 majority, a target at the next election.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has defended Kemi Badenoch’s remarks, claiming she had “information” to support them.
“She obviously had information that she based her comments on. You know the most important facts are, since the general election, there have been, I think, 175 council by-elections. We have won seven times more of those than Reform.”
Over the weekend, the leader of the opposition told the Daily Mail’s You Magazine: “I don’t like a fight. But I’m not afraid of a fight if it’s the right thing to do. And many of those people who say, ‘Oh, she’s rude, she’s abrasive’, don’t say what they had done to elicit my response.”
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