Kemi Badenoch told voters she ‘stands behind Jewish people’ as she took down a heckler while on the campaign trail yesterday.
The Conservative Party leader spoke out against rising antisemitism after she was confronted by a woman trying to play down the issue ahead of the local elections in Essex.
The clash started when Ms Badenoch was accused by the woman, not seen on camera, of answering ‘rehearsed questions’ as she repeatedly asked the Tory leader about the Muslim population – after a spate of recent attacks on the Jewish community.
The woman, named Chelsey, continued to talk over Ms Badenoch, as the leader responded: ‘It’s very important that the people know what it is that they’re voting for with me, and what they will have with me is someone who is very, very determined to stop this climate of intimidation and hatred towards Jews.’
Ms Badenoch added passionately: ‘I go to Jewish primary schools that have security guards outside – I don’t see that with any other primary school in this country.
‘I go to Jewish supermarkets that have security guards. I go to Jewish businesses that are having their windows smashed in, Gail’s bakery having graffiti sprayed all over it.
‘We need to stop pretending that this is not happening. We do not want the 1930s repeated again.
Kemi Badenoch was confronted by a heckler while out canvassing in Essex yesterday
The heckler, a woman named Chelsey, asked ‘What about the Muslim people? Are they not worth protecting?’
The Conservative Party leader had been out campaigning ahead of the local elections this weekend
The leader had been taking questions from the press before she was interrupted by the heckler (pictured, right)
‘And what we see is people making excuses about this – you will not get excuses from me. We need to protect Jewish people.’
The confrontation came after two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green on Wednesday, April 29.
The stabbing was the latest in a spate of antisemitic attacks across the country, as the Jewish community have pleaded with the Government to do more to tackle the rise in hatred and violence.
During the confrontation yesterday at Barleylands Farm Park in Billericay, Essex, the woman interrupted Ms Badenoch again: ‘What about the rise in attacks on the Muslim people? Are they not worth protecting?’
Ms Badenoch responded: ‘The people who have died and who’ve been killed are Jewish people in synagogues. Let’s stop pretending that something else is happening.’
The woman shouted back: ‘But this isn’t about Jewish people,’ to which Ms Badenoch and others quickly interjected: ‘No it is, it very much is. It very much is about Jewish people.’
The Tory leader responded: ‘You can say all that you like, but this is how the 1930s started, with people pretending not to see what was happening in front of them. I am not blind, I am telling people the truth.’
The woman again interrupts, claiming: ‘It [the 1930s] also started with politicians pandering to the Right and doing racist policies.’
Ms Badenoch calmly says: ‘I’m sorry but I disagree with you, you just have to accept that.’
The woman calls: ‘Yeah, we know where you stand, pandering to the Right’, to which Ms Badenoch responds: ‘I am the Right, yes, and I’m very proud of being on the Right – I’m not pandering to the far-Right.’
The Party leader finally says as she leaves: ‘What I am doing is supporting Jewish people from the sort of ignorance that people like you put out there, and I will never be intimidated by it.’
The crowd clapped as Ms Badenoch left after the tense exchange, which saw the leader defend her views and Jewish people amid a concerning trend of rising antisemitism across the country.
Officials have described the past few months as the most serious surge in anti-Semitic attacks on British Jews in recent years.
The attacks on the community have included Jewish teenagers being threatened with knives at a Tube station, Jewish businesses being targeted with arson attempts, and diners at a kosher restaurant being assaulted.
Two worshippers were killed and several were injured in a terror attack at Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester in October 2025.
The UK’s threat level was lifted from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’ last Thursday for the first time in more than four years, following the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green on Wednesday.
The stabbing followed a series of attacks in March when ambulances operated by a Jewish volunteer emergency service were set on fire, alongside further reports of attempted arson and attacks on synagogues in north London.
