Badenoch apologises after Bloody Sunday footage used in post defending UK veterans

Kemi Badenoch has apologised after footage from Bloody Sunday was used in social media posts criticising a bill on legacy issues in Northern Ireland. The Conservative leader said on Saturday that she did not sign off on the use of a clip from the massacre, in which British soldiers opened fire on unarmed civil rights demonstrators in Derry, and that it was distributed by “very young people”. The video was posted on Badenoch’s social media channels on Tuesday, claiming Labour’s proposed changes would “drag” British Troubles veterans back to court. Colum Eastwood, the SDLP MP for the Foyle constituency that covers Derry, said he was “shocked” to see Badenoch “trumpeting the service of British soldiers in Northern Ireland using footage from Bloody Sunday”. Bloody Sunday, on 30 January 1972, is widely seen as one of the most significant points in the Troubles and is regarded as the worst mass shooting in Northern Ireland’s history. Members of the army’s parachute regiment shot 26 people during an anti-interment march in the Bogside area of the city, killing 13. A 14th man, John Johnston, 59, died of his injuries four months later. Badenoch was asked about the clip during a visit to a hairdresser in south-east London. She said: “I have apologised. I did not sign off the video. …