Conflict over identity politics could lead to civil war in long term, says Badenoch

Conflict over identity politics in the UK could lead to civil war in the long term, Kemi Badenoch has said.

In an interview for a BBC Radio 4 documentary, England's Identity Crisis, the Conservative leader warned of rising tensions as groups on the left and the right direct "more and more hostility" towards people of every ethnicity.

The Conservative leader censured parties that use the political conflict to target voters from one community, an ingredient that she says could lead to an eventual civil war.

The interview was conducted before political tension erupted over policing, following the release of bodycam footage showing the handcuffing of murdered teenager Henry Nowak as he lay dying.

Both Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Badenoch have called for politicians not to stoke division following the outcry about the teenager's murder, and subsequent protests on the streets of Southampton.

Speaking to the BBC for the documentary before the sentencing of Nowak's killer Vickrum Digwa, Badenoch said: "This is not a racist country. But now we are seeing more and more hostility to people of every ethnicity, whether they're English or not English, because people are bringing political conflict into an area where we didn't have political conflict.

"And it's the political conflict, I think, that is creating this tension.

"This is why it's really important that politicians understand this properly and have policies that make a difference, rather than use the political conflict as a way to get some votes from one particular community.

"Parties which do that, politicians who do that, they may get to benefit in the short term, but in the long term, that's how you end up with civil war."

When asked whether she was saying that the way to avoid a civil war was to avoid "fracturing" in society, she said: "We definitely need to avoid that fracturing, but we also need to focus on assimilation."

Badenoch did not name any political parties, but in the wake of the Gorton and Denton by-election in February she said it was "appalling that separatist campaigning was carried out in Urdu by the Green Party".

Hannah Spencer won the seat for the Green Party of England and Wales with a majority of 4,402. The Green Party was approached for comment.

The Conservative leader stressed that she was outlining a long term threat. Asked if the UK is potentially in civil war territory if this is not resolved, Badenoch said: "Not any time soon. No, I don't think we're potentially in a civil war scenario now.

"But if we don't sort it now, then we're leaving a much worse country to our children. We're leaving them to sort out some very complicated things."

The debate about English national identity has taken on a harder edge over the past year after some figures on the right said that Englishness cannot be acquired because it is related to ancestry.