Photo credit: Daily Mail
Kemi Badenoch’s attacks on Reform MPs, saying only white people can be English, have been supported by an unexpected group – Reform voters.
Daily Mail reports that the Tory leader’s approval leapt from 40 per cent to 57 per cent among Reform UK voters when they were shown video clips of her saying she didn’t want to live in a country where people “debate whether my mixed-race children are English”.
It came as Reform leader Nigel Farage warned his colleagues to stop making the Englishness comparison amid fears it was damaging the party in the polls.
Mr Farage has “exchanged words” with Suella Braverman after she suggested she could not be considered English despite being born and raised in England, because her parents were born abroad.
The comments were seized by Mrs Badenoch to launch an excoriating attack on Reform at last week’s Conservative Party conference.
Research suggests her response resonated with the public and helped drive a Tory revival in the polls. Surveys suggest the Conservatives have overtaken Reform for the first time in two years.
More in Common found that Mrs Badenoch’s approval rating rose sharply among voters who were shown the conference clip.
Overall, the proportion of voters approving of the Tory leader rose from 37 to 46 per cent. But the effect was particularly marked among Reform voters, with her approval jumping from 40 to 57 per cent.
