Kemi Badenoch Refuses to Fight for Her Own Country

The Conservative leader's defence of Israel's shameful detention and deportation of British MPs is just the latest example of a politician whose real loyalties lie elsewhere

“Young people must no longer be taught to dislike our country, our institutions and our history so much that they say they wouldn't fight for it”, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch declared earlier this year, as she accused an entire generation of young British people of not showing patriotism towards their own country.

Yet fast forward to this weekend and the person refusing to fight for their own country is Badenoch herself.

Asked on Sunday to respond to the Israeli Government arbitrarily detaining and deporting two British Labour MPs, Badenoch chose to defend the Israelis over her own fellow citizens.

In an extraordinary response, the Conservative leader told Sky News that she was "not surprised" the pair had been denied entry, and praised Israel for “controlling their borders”.

Blaming the MPs for their own detention, she later told the BBC that “what I believe is shocking is that we have MPs in Labour who other countries will not allow in… I believe that the people who represent us in Parliament should be people who… people not be worried about what they're going to do when they go.”

It's not the first time the Conservative leader has put herself on the side of those attacking her own country.