Paralympian Blasts Badenoch for Using His Marathons to Sell Welfare Cuts

Richard Whitehead didn't hold back. The double amputee marathon runner accused Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch of weaponising his sporting success to justify her proposed £36bn welfare cuts. In a speech on Tuesday, Badenoch pointed to 'double amputees running marathons' as proof that millions of people can contribute even when facing serious challenges.

Whitehead said friends sent him clips of the speech and his mouth fell open as he watched. 'I was gobsmacked that somebody's sporting success would be weaponised in this way,' he said. 'To say everybody should work because double-leg amputees run marathons, I was like, wow. It's very divisive language.'

The runner's record backs up his frustration. He has completed more than 100 marathons, set world records, won four Paralympic medals and raised money for charity through endurance feats. He said Badenoch was 'utilising somebody's success and 50 years of hard work for her own means without actually having any knowledge of who I am.'

He took his concerns to social media right away. 'Disability should never be judged through isolated examples of individual achievement, but through an understanding of the barriers people and families face every day,' he wrote. In the same speech, Badenoch argued that telling a young person their ADHD makes them 'defective' is more destructive than the condition itself.

The Conservatives say the savings would come from ending disability living allowance payments to families of children with 'milder cases' of behavioural disorders, learning disabilities or ADHD. Whitehead accepts the welfare system needs a shake-up, but says blanket cuts hit families who rely on that money as a lifeline.

He has invited Badenoch to sit down with him and learn how disability has shaped his life and his work mentoring others. 'I think she needs to really reflect and think about how she communicates with the disabled community,' he said. He also wants her to answer for the terminology she used, offering to educate her on what neurodiversity and ADHD actually look like day to day.