Kemi Badenoch made a ‘rape joke’ on social media in her post

Sign up for View from Westminster email to get expert analysis delivered straight to your inbox

Get our free View from Westminster email

Newly elected Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has been condemned after a photo surfaced showing her joking about rape on her personal Facebook page.

The former women and equalities minister was criticized by anti-domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid, which said it was appalled by the footage.

In a post on her page from January 2008, which was visible on her profile as recently as this week, Ms Badenoch shared a photo of three men with the caption: “Drummond Beer Rape incident”.

The picture shows a man lying on the ground, another man sitting on top of him holding a bottle, and a third man covering his mouth and nose.

Women’s Aid called on Ms Badenoch to take responsibility for the role, arguing that jokes about sexual violence perpetuate harassment and misogynistic attitudes towards women.

Sophie Francis-Cansfield, head of policy at the charity, said: Independent: “Rape and sexual assault are no laughing matter, and minimizing them trivializes the very real and traumatic experiences of countless women and girls.

“There is a widespread epidemic of violence against women and girls that is based on misogynistic attitudes, as seen in this ‘joke’.

“Political figures must take responsibility for their words and actions, whether current or not, and act in ways that challenge rather than perpetuate abuse.”

The Badenoch campaign said the photo “dated Kemi’s university days in the 1990s and was captioned by friends at the time.”

They added that Ms Badenoch “has made clear that she believes this type of ‘criminal archaeology’ has no place in political debate”.

Although the photo appears to have been taken years ago, the photo and its caption were shared by Ms Badenoch on Facebook on January 26, 2008, when the now Conservative Party leader was in his late 20s.

Ms Badenoch was announced as the new leader of the Conservative Party on Saturday morning, following a membership vote at the end of the race to replace Rishi Sunak, which began when the former Prime Minister resigned after his general election defeat.

He defeated rival Robert Jenrick by more than 10,000 votes and told his party: “We must be honest; “Honest that we made mistakes, honest that we allowed standards to drop.”

He is expected to appoint a shadow cabinet in the coming days.

The former women and equalities minister was a strong advocate for protecting women’s spaces and was vocal about rape and sexual violence.

Ms Badenoch opposes self-identification by transgender people and claims it is linked to protecting women from sexual violence. In May, she vowed to “never stop defending” women’s rights after receiving letters and cards from rape victims urging her to continue.