Kemi Badenoch defended her argument that pro-Palestine marches should be banned because she says they give a platform to antisemitism, while insisting that marches organised by Tommy Robinson should still be allowed. Asked in a Today interview whether Robinson rallies also spread anti-Muslim hate, she said the two were "not the same".
Her remarks landed against a raw backdrop. Badenoch said two Jewish men were killed at Heaton Park synagogue last year, and that another two Jewish men were almost killed in Golders Green last week. She said criticism of religion is allowed in Britain, but that people must not mix that with attacks on Jews. "It’s not the faith that’s being attacked, it’s the people," she said.
Badenoch used the interview to draw a hard line between criticism of belief and hostility toward people. Her view was blunt: speech about religion can be protected, but marches she believes normalise hatred against Jews should not be treated as acceptable. That argument goes to the heart of a political fight that has sharpened over how Britain should police public protest, and whether the same standard should apply when claims of hate are made against different communities.
She also pushed back on the idea that the debate should be widened every time antisemitism is raised. "And I do have to ask, why is it that whenever we’re talking about Jewish hatred, we always have what about, what about?" she said. She added: "When something happens to black people, no one does the whataboutery. When something does happen to Muslims, we don’t say what about antisemitism?"
"Why do we have this double standard that, whenever there’s an issue with antisemitism and Jews being attacked, we have to broaden it out all the time," she said. The comments came as Badenoch has already faced criticism for defending the ban on pro-Palestine marches on the grounds that they platform antisemitism, while supporting Robinson-led demonstrations despite concerns that they can also be a platform for anti-Muslim hate.
The interview also followed Badenoch’s intervention in another political row, after she questioned whether an undisclosed £5m donation to Nigel Farage from a crypto billionaire meant he had been bought. Taken together, the remarks showed a campaign style built on direct confrontation and on forcing opponents to defend their own standards as well as her own.
For Badenoch, the issue is no longer simply about one set of marches or one incident of violence. She is arguing that antisemitism deserves a stricter response than other forms of protest-driven hate, and she is making that case in public while refusing to concede that her critics are describing the same thing on both sides of the argument.
