The rise of Nigeria-born Badenoch, new Conservative Party leader

Kemi Badenoch has become the first black woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom, taking charge of the Conservative Party.

On November 2, 2024, Badenoch, the North West Essex Member of Parliament (MP), received 53,806 votes to defeat her rival, Robert Jenrick, who garnered 41,388 votes.

She was formerly the British business secretary and now succeeds Rishi Sunak as leader of the opposition.

Early life

Kemi Badenoch was born on January 2, 1980, in Wimbledon, United Kingdom, as Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke, to Femi Adegoke, a general practitioner, and Feyi Adegoke, a professor of Physiology.

Badenoch was fortunate to be among the last to benefit from the birth-right citizenship rules, which Margaret Thatcher would soon abolish the following year during the British Nationality Act.

Her parents took her to Lagos, Nigeria, where she spent her early years. Badenoch lived in Nigeria in her teenage years. At the age of 16, she returned to the UK to live with her mother’s friend.

At that time, no black or Asian citizen had ever been a government minister in the UK.

While in the UK, Badenoch studied Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Sussex, completing a Master of Engineering in 2003.

Between 2003 and 2006, she worked in the IT sector, initially as a software engineer at Logica (later CGI Group). She later studied Law, graduating in 2009 with a Bachelor of Laws from Birkbeck, University of London.

Journey into Politics

Badenoch has shared that being “a very angry young person” drove her into politics, feeling pushed by career advisers and development campaigners who did not value African voices.

She joined the Conservative Party in 2005 at the age of 25 and contested a legislative election in 2010 but came third.

In 2012, she stood for another legislative election in London but was not elected. In 2016, she supported Brexit, advocating for the UK’s exit from the European Union.

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In 2017, Badenoch was shortlisted as the Conservative Party candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn but was unsuccessful. However, she was later selected as the Conservative candidate for Saffron Walden and won the election.

Re-elected in the December 2019 general election with an increased majority, she later served as exchequer secretary to the treasury and parliamentary under-secretary of state (Minister of Equalities) in the Department of International Trade under Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2020.

Promoted to minister of state for Equalities, she also became minister of state for Housing, Communities and Local Government. In 2022, she resigned.

Badenoch has advocated for migration policies that reflect the importance of cultural differences and believes that skin colour should be no more relevant than hair colour. She once described herself as Labour’s ‘worst nightmare.’

She supported Tony Sewell’s review of ethnic disparities, which aimed to change the narrative, but it resulted in a highly polarised debate.

As the equalities minister, Badenoch adopted a more constructive approach with her Inclusive Britain policy, which aimed to address remaining gaps. This led some on the right to label her as ‘too woke,’ while the left views her as a culture warrior on race and gender.

Following Johnson’s resignation, Badenoch launched a bid to succeed him as Conservative Party leader but was eliminated in the fourth round of voting.

During her campaign, Badenoch pledged to return the Conservatives to ‘first principles’ and launched a series of reviews to shape a new policy platform in the coming months.

In 2017, she told the Commons during her maiden speech, “To all intents and purposes, I am a first-generation immigrant.”

In September 2022, Liz Truss became the UK Prime Minister and appointed Badenoch to her cabinet as secretary of state for International Trade. After Truss’ resignation the following month, Badenoch endorsed Rishi Sunak, who later became Prime Minister. Sunak retained her upon becoming prime minister.

In a February 2023 cabinet reshuffle, she was appointed first secretary of state at the newly created Department for Business and Trade.

Party leadership

In her acceptance speech, Badenoch acknowledged the challenging task ahead for the Conservative Party.

She stated, “Our first responsibility as His Majesty’s loyal Opposition is to hold this Labour Government to account. Our second is no less important.

“It is to prepare over the course of the next few years for government, to ensure that by the time of the next election, we have not just a clear set of Conservative pledges that appeal to the British people, but a clear plan for how to implement them, a clear plan to change this country by changing the way that government works.”