Kemi Badenoch Video Featuring Bloody Sunday Footage Condemned by Foyle MP
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has drawn sharp criticism after a social media video, opposing reforms to the Legacy Act, featured imagery of soldiers involved in the Bloody Sunday massacre.
The video, circulated on Tuesday, displayed troops entering the Bogside area of Londonderry on 30 January 1972. On that day, thirteen individuals were fatally shot when the British Army opened fire on civil rights demonstrators. Last year, a former paratrooper, identified as Soldier F, was acquitted of murder and attempted murder charges related to the incident.
The Conservative Party stated the video was removed "as soon as we were made aware of the footage," offering an apology for its inclusion. "This material should not have been used and will not be used again," a spokesperson affirmed.
Foyle MP Colum Eastwood denounced the footage's use as "disgusting and disgraceful." The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MP expressed shock that Badenoch's video, intended to laud the service of British soldiers in Northern Ireland, incorporated scenes from Bloody Sunday.
The 2010 Saville Inquiry into the shootings concluded that none of the casualties posed a threat or justified their shooting. The then-Prime Minister, David Cameron, described the killings as "unjustified and unjustifiable."
Eastwood described the video as "an insult to the innocent civil rights protesters" who were killed, urging Badenoch to apologise directly to the Bloody Sunday families. He emphasised that the Conservative Party's promotional material prioritised "the interests of British soldiers over the needs of victims and survivors."
Tony Doherty, Chair of the Bloody Sunday Trust and whose father was killed, expressed he was "astounded" by the footage's use, calling it "grossly insulting to the Bloody Sunday families and to the people of Derry." Beyond those killed, at least 15 others sustained injuries on Bloody Sunday.
In the removed video, Badenoch argued that proposed government reforms to the Legacy Act, designed to address Troubles-era cases, would subject veterans to new legal battles. She contended that Britain "should stand behind our veterans, not put them on trial decades later."
