Opinion
From the JC to the White House? The remarkable rise of Raheem Kassam
He's just accompanied Nigel Farage to meet Donald Trump. Raheem Kassam used to write columns in these pages
November 17, 2016 11:32
1 min read
He's just accompanied Nigel Farage to meet Donald Trump. Raheem Kassam used to write columns in these pages
November 17, 2016 11:32The commentators were discussing the garish vulgarity of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage posing by a marble and gold-fronted lift. But my eyes were drawn to the far-right of the image, as it were. Raheem Kassam, with his close-cropped beard, spectacles and pocket handkerchief, was a familiar figure standing alongside Mr Farage, Arron Banks - Ukip's multi-millionaire donor - and the soon-to-be most-powerful-man-in-the-world.
It would be a monumental understatement to say this image of Mr Kassam was at odds with the softly-spoken figure I remember having coffee with five years ago.
Then, I was met by a softly-spoken graduate working to stem the flow of extreme Muslim speakers being invited to campuses by student societies.
He was polite, helpful and generous with his assistance while working as director of Student Rights, a group under the umbrella of the Henry Jackson Society think-tank.
I was the JC's campus editor and on a couple of occasions Mr Kassam wrote columns, usually criticising the approach taken by universities on the issue. He was very much a friend of the community.
How did a young staffer become so central?
He went on to work his way through various online publications, including the Commentator and Trending Central, each step of the way moving slightly more to the right.
Two years ago he stopped getting in touch. He had thrown his weight behind Ukip, quickly become a leading adviser to Nigel Farage and ultimately his chief of staff.
The sight of Mr Kassam, a non-practising Muslim, accompanying the party leader during last year's general election campaign was baffling to some - how had a young staffer with relatively little political experience become so central a figure?
Everywhere Mr Farage went, Mr Kassam followed - often wearing a similar covert-style coat - picking up ideas, and contacts, on the way.
He turned 30 only this summer but briefly stood in the Ukip leadership race last month.
That move lead to heightened media attention and criticism over his increasingly abrasive and obnoxious social media presence.
Tweets claiming Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, should tape her legs shut to stop her reproducing and suggesting Suzanne Evans, the fellow former Ukip leadership candidate, should "f--- off for good", rightly kicked up a stink around him.
Mr Kassam subsequently quit the leadership race, in which he had been backed by Mr Banks, saying the path to victory" was "too narrow".
Within hours he had crossed the Atlantic for the final hours of the Trump campaign.
As on-off editor-in-chief of right-wing website Breitbart's London off-shoot, Mr Kassam has come to the attention of Steve Bannon, Mr Trump's newly-appointed strategy chief.
The utter astonishment in British political and media circles over Mr Kassam's stratospheric rise may yet be eclipsed if a permanent role is found for him in Mr Trump's administration at the White House.
