‘Kemi Badenoch violated me, assaulted the free press and still refuses to apologise’ - Nadine White

Still grieving the loss of her sister to Covid, journalist Nadine White was doing her job when she asked the equalities minister a question. She never expected to be publicly shamed by the MP. As Labour calls for an investigation into Badenoch's behaviour, White says what happened to her sets a dangerous precedent, threatening the role of a free press
Kemi Badenoch
PA
Nadine White5 February 2021

During my annual leave last Friday, I picked up my phone to check Twitter to read about the topic of the afternoon and was shocked to see that it was me. 

Over a series of tweets Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, had launched into a tirade because I asked her a question she didn’t like. She posted screenshots of two emails that I’d sent to her press office as part of my research into a story and also tagged my employer, HuffPost.  

Last Thursday and Friday, I approached the minister’s office asking for comment on my understanding that she had refused to participate in a video featuring Black cross-party politicians seeking to encourage the take up of Covid-19 vaccinations. Far from being “fabricated”, as she alleged, this information was shared with me by multiple senior political figures. 

For her to log into Twitter and suggest that I had made the story up is an incredibly damaging allegation that goes to the heart of my professional integrity – while absolving her of her responsibility to be answerable to the very taxpayers who pay that internet bill.  

The minister suggested that I was “creepy and bizarre” for putting my source’s claims to her. I am not. What I am is a young Black journalist simply doing my job. I have faced obstacles common to all aspiring reporters, as well as ones faced disproportionately by women and women of colour.  

Journalist Nadine White
Nadine White

This includes frequently facing online abuse – a problem which she exacerbated through an ill-conceived decision to single me out with erroneous claims about my respectability on a social media platform. Following the minister’s thread, I was trolled via Twitter, Instagram and email, as well as nuisance calls, and I was forced to close my Twitter account. 

I have witnessed Badenoch’s ascension to power as a Black woman – a rarity in politics. There’s a parallel to be drawn between her example and mine, as I too navigate an industry as part of a marginalised cohort in news. I did have respect for the minister’s ambition and it was disappointing to see her resort to, what was in my opinion, malicious, frankly tragic behaviour that is most unbecoming of an elected public official. 

I’ve found the ordeal to be humiliating and stressful, particularly at a time when I’m grieving the death of my older sister, 41, who passed away from Covid-19 three weeks ago. Prior to that, my mother contracted Covid, as did both my brothers and most of my immediate family. Last year, I lost my cousin who was in his sixties to the virus and friends.  

Kemi Badenoch and Nadine White's tweets
Screenshot

 While reckoning with the personal devastation that the virus has wreaked upon my life, I’ve continued to report on the pandemic on the nation’s behalf. I care deeply about how this pandemic is affecting Britain yet the minister accused me of “peddling disinformation” in a story that was never actually published.  

The vaccine hesitancy that’s rife in our Black communities is rooted in mistrust of the government. This is not the first time Badenoch has made inflammatory comments and as a result her relationship with some Black communities leaves a lot to be desired. Last year she accused the BBC’s community affairs correspondent Rianna Croxford of ‘fanning the flames of racial division’ over a story about a black doctor who had been sidelined from leading a review into a coronavirus BAME report. In October 2020, in an interview with The Spectator the MP appeared to claim that Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race author Reni Eddo-Lodge ‘actually wants a segregated society.’ In light of this, the equalities minister’s absence from this video about equality was noted by many people. Badenoch has since said it was actually she who 'suggested and promoted the video.'

Kemi Badenoch next to Chancellor Rishi Sunak
Getty Images

So the question of whether she refused to participate in a video tailored specifically to Black communities lends itself, I think, to grave ongoing questions about the extent to which she has the confidence of these parts of the community.

 Badenoch may find that her valiant efforts to promote vaccine uptake through taking part in the Novavax trials - which is why she couldn't take part in the campaign video in question - may go in vain, for some Black people because of these very questions. This compelled me to put my sources’ claims to the minister. 

Free press is essential to the function of any democracy. The minister’s attack suggests that power should not be held to account which threatens a dangerous precedent indeed.  

The reaction from the world of journalism speaks for itself. Her actions have been called out by media industry colleagues, as well as right-thinking, alarmed members of the public from all walks of life including public figures from Afua Hirsch to Lord Simon Woolley.   

The NUJ and the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists have criticised the minister’s behaviour, as well as the Coalition for Women in Journalism, The Society of Editors and The Media Freedom Rapid Response. In addition to this, the Labour Party has raised a potential ministerial code breach too. This is more than just some misguided personal spat.

One week later, Badenoch has not deleted her tweets or apologised. I sent private correspondence to the minister earlier this week beseeching her to do the right thing in taking this action and asking her to let me know what her intentions will be by Thursday.

As of Friday morning, I’m still waiting for my apology. 

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