Samuel Kasumu, who was a special advisor to Boris Johnson when he was Prime Minister, said Kemi Badenoch lacks Nigel Farage’s credibility and should hand over her social media logins
A former top Tory No10 aide has admitted that Kemi Badenoch does not have the credibility of Nigel Farage – and suggested she gives up her social media logins.
Samuel Kasumu, who was a Special Advisor to Boris Johnson, said the new Conservative leader needs to stop getting involved in online spats. Ms Badenoch has responded to jibes from Mr Farage since taking up her post – most recently accusing him of fibbing over membership numbers.
Mr 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 said the Tory leader must not “always get involved in every fight”. Mr Kasumu said: “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.”
It follows a spat which saw Ms Badenoch accuse Reform UK of publishing a “fake” membership count online. It sparked speculation that Mr Farage – who has declared her North West Essex seat a target – could take legal action.
On Sunday morning Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp was asked if Ms Badenoch is likely to apologise. He replied: “”I don’t think so.”
Mr Philp said: “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.”
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice told Sky News’ Sir Trevor Phillips: “The thing about legal action is you have to prove harm. The truth is that Kemi Badenoch has helped us, so we’re sort-of thanking her.
“But what we’d like is an apology. I think Chris Philp has just confirmed we’re not going to get an apology, so instead, what Nigel announced yesterday is that we’re going to instead make her constituency a key target seat for Reform at the next general election.”
