British politicians should focus on happenings in the UK, not Nigeria, others — Kemi Badenoch

Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, has called for more political focus on domestic affairs, stating that politicians in the United Kingdom (UK) should prioritise British issues over matters in other countries including Nigeria.

Speaking on GB News, Badenoch reasserted her position that her primary identity is British, stating that her ancestry and early upbringing in Nigeria do not define her present political outlook.

“Well, I think that the BBC certainly wrote that headline. It wasn’t quite what I said, but it is true. My main identity is as British. That is what I see myself as,” she said in the interview shared on TikTok on Tuesday.

Her remarks come amid continuing debates around the role of identity and foreign policy in British politics. 

Badenoch criticised what she described as a trend among some Labour MPs to speak more on international issues than on problems affecting the UK.

“I think that as a politician in this country, we need to be very focused on what is happening here, not what’s happening elsewhere. And every day, I see loads of Labour MPs in particular talking about every other country except the UK,” she said.

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She further argued that integration and a firm commitment to British values and interests should be central to both residents and politicians.

“If you come to this country, you need to be very focused on making sure that you integrate. And if you’re a politician, you need to be 100% focused on British issues. And that’s basically what I was saying.”

Her comments follow a previous disclosure on the Rosebud podcast, where she revealed she had not renewed her Nigerian passport in over two decades and no longer considers herself Nigerian.

“I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents, but by identity I’m not really. I know the country very well, I have a lot of family there, and I’m very interested in what happens there,” she said during the August 1 episode.

Born in Wimbledon in 1980, Badenoch spent part of her childhood in Nigeria and the United States before returning to the UK at age 16.

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