British MP Kemi Badenoch Shocks the Press by Saying a True Thing

In Britain, an attempt is under way to transmute the impressive MP Kemi Badenoch into the second coming of Bad Enoch. Her crime? To have said aloud what ought to be perfectly obvious to all and sundry: that “not all cultures are equally valid.” “I am not talking about cuisine,” Badenoch told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, “I am talking about customs.” Among the cultures that Badenoch listed as “less valid” were those in which women have fewer rights than men, those that celebrate child marriage, those that foster antisemitism, and those that persecute homosexuality. These, she concluded, ought not to be imported into the United Kingdom.

As one might expect, many within the English press treated this observation as if it were self-evidently scandalous. Badenoch, it was suggested, had not only “sparked a row” but had shown the temerity to provoke some criticism on TV. Even worse, her interview with the BBC had yielded a “tense clash” — the mere existence of which was deemed to be “extraordinary.”

About the Author

Charles C. W. Cooke

Charles C. W. Cooke is a senior editor at National Review and the host of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast.

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In Britain, an attempt is under way to transmute the impressive MP Kemi Badenoch into the second coming of Bad Enoch. Her crime? To have said aloud what ought to be perfectly obvious to all and sundry: that “not all cultures are equally valid.” “I am not talking about cuisine,” Badenoch told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, “I am talking about customs.” Among the cultures that Badenoch listed as “less valid” were those in which women have fewer rights than men, those that celebrate child marriage, those that foster antisemitism, and those that persecute homosexuality. These, she concluded, ought not to be imported into the United Kingdom.

As one might expect, many within the English press treated this observation as if it were self-evidently scandalous. Badenoch, it was suggested, had not only “sparked a row” but had shown the temerity to provoke some criticism on TV. Even worse, her interview with the BBC had yielded a “tense clash” — the mere existence of which was deemed to be “extraordinary.”