In a hard-hitting interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN, UK Member of Parliament and leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, made strong remarks about the abuse of the UK’s immigration and asylum system, insisting that British tolerance is being exploited under current rules.
“Other countries that are Muslim, they don’t tolerate this sort of stuff,” Badenoch said, in reference to asylum seekers allegedly faking sexual orientation or converting religions to claim protected status. “We have people pretending to be homosexual so they can claim asylum—and then they go on to get married and have children. They’re abusing the laws we have.”
Badenoch highlighted cases where individuals allegedly converted to Christianity solely to avoid deportation, calling it “exploitation of a system that was not designed for this sort of thing.”
Turning her attention to integration, Badenoch criticized immigrants who try to recreate their home cultures in the UK. “You say to somebody who’s coming from Nigeria and wants to create a little mini Nigeria—No. In Britain, no. That is not right.”
She also pointed out inconsistencies in citizenship laws: “It’s virtually impossible to get Nigerian citizenship. I have that citizenship through my parents—I can’t pass it on to my children because I’m a woman. Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK and acquire British citizenship after a brief stay. We need to stop being naive.”
Badenoch defended the government’s recent tightening of immigration and naturalization policies, saying that under her leadership, “it’s now a lot harder to just get British citizenship. It’s basically been a conveyor belt.”
“We want people who will be net contributors—not people who come and immediately need welfare or social housing,” she added, arguing that Britain’s systems were built for a different time and can’t cope with modern mass migration. “We could get away with these things before small boats, before mobile phones, before the era of global mass migration. Now it’s destabilizing.”
The interview has sparked intense debate online, with critics accusing Badenoch of veering into xenophobic rhetoric, while supporters praise her for “saying the quiet part out loud” and defending national interest.
