Kemi Badenoch: ‘I watched a man being beaten to death in front of me’

Kemi Badenoch says witnessing mob killings as a child in Nigeria shaped her views on safety and immigration. The Conservative leader argues that many people move to Europe or the United States seeking security, and says the UK should tighten immigration controls because some people exploit the country’s kindness.

Badenoch recalled that, aged about eight or nine, she watched a man accused of stealing jewellery beaten to death by a crowd while she was stuck in a car with her mother. She said robberies, burglaries and other killings were common in her childhood, before she returned to Britain at 16. Born in the UK in 1980, she also said she had never been the victim of racism in Britain, though she acknowledged that prejudice exists.