Election signs for Reform UK.Reform UK have been accused by the Conservatives of “BNP-style race-baiting” for referring to Kemi Badenoch’s Nigerian upbringing in attacks on the party leader.
In incendiary comments, a senior Tory aide told HuffPost UK that Reform were “increasingly trying to weaponise race in British politics”.
The row comes after Nigel Farage’s party accused Badenoch of lying over her achievements as a child in Nigeria.
A video posted by the party on X accused the Conservative leader of claiming to have been a national chess champion in the African country when she was just seven-years-old.
Reform said: “Kemi Badenoch said she was Nigeria’s national chess champion at age 7. So we sent a reporter to Nigeria to find out the truth. She lied.”
Kemi Badenoch said she was Nigeria’s national chess champion at age 7. So we sent a reporter to Nigeria to find out the truth.
She lied.
Here is everything else she has lied about: pic.twitter.com/4mL1SheA2V
— Reform UK (@reformparty_uk) October 3, 2026
Badenoch was said to have made the claim in an interview with The Times, but the journalist she spoke to denied it.
Victoria Peckham published a transcript in which Badenoch said: “Not a lot of girls play chess. I remember when I was seven, I won a national competition for chess.”
Asked if that was in Nigeria, the Tory leader said: “Yes. In 1987.”
Badenoch added: “There were only two girls who entered.”
A Conservative aide said in response: “Reform are neck deep in financial scandal, under investigation by the police, and are increasingly trying to weaponise race in British politics.
“Anyone who thought Reform offered something different will rightly be appalled by their descent into a BNP-style race-baiting gutter.”
A senior Reform source hit back: “Exposing Kemi’s lies is a basic duty of opposition. They didn’t take this tone and approach when it came to Rachel Reeves’ CV.
“It’s a basic fact that she grew up in Nigeria and it was Kemi herself that boasted of winning a Nigerian national chess competition. We will not be deterred from exposing her long history of lies.”
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