Kemi Badenoch, the first Black woman to lead a major U.K. political party, brings a dynamic and outspoken libertarian perspective, believing that Britain’s state apparatus is flawed and that she’s the one to overhaul it with a leaner government and bold, transformative ideas.
The new leader of the center-right Conservative Party was born Olukemi Adegoke in London in 1980 to affluent Nigerian parents — a doctor and an academic — and spent much of her childhood in Nigeria.
She has noted that witnessing Nigeria’s economic and social challenges significantly influenced her political views.
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“I grew up somewhere where the lights didn’t come on, where we ran out of fuel frequently despite being an oil-producing country,” Badenoch told the BBC last week.
“I don’t take what we have in this country for granted,” she said. “I meet a lot of people who assume that things are good here because things are good here and they always will be. They don’t realize just how much work and sacrifice was required in order to get that.”
Returning to the U.K. at 16 amid Nigeria’s turbulent times, she balanced part-time work at McDonald’s with school before studying computer systems engineering at the University of Sussex. Later, she earned a law degree and entered the financial services sector.
In 2012, she married Hamish Badenoch, a banker, and the couple now have three children.
She was elected to the London Assembly in 2015 and entered Parliament in 2017.
From 2019 to 2022, under Prime Minister Boris Johnson, she held multiple government roles until joining a large ministerial resignation wave in July 2022 over ethical issues that ultimately led to Johnson’s resignation.
Badenoch’s bid to succeed Johnson boosted her profile, though she didn’t win.
She later served as trade secretary during Prime Minister Liz Truss’s 49-day government, then as business secretary under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
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In the July national election, she retained her parliamentary seat, even as the Labour Party won a vast majority and reduced the Conservatives to 121 seats in the 650-member House of Commons.
An admirer of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Badenoch draws on her engineering background, portraying herself as a problem-solver and a disruptor. She advocates for a low-tax, free-market economy and pledges to “rewire, reboot, and reprogram” the British state.
A vocal critic of multiculturalism and what she calls “wokeness,” Badenoch opposes identity politics, gender-neutral bathrooms, and some government efforts to lower carbon emissions in the U.K.
Her supporters, who find her charismatic and direct, believe she may be the fresh voice the Conservative Party needs to recover from its historic defeat. During her leadership campaign, her backers wore T-shirts with the slogan, “Be more Kemi.”
Critics argue that Badenoch has had tensions with colleagues and civil servants, often making impulsive statements that stir up avoidable conflicts.
During her leadership campaign, she faced backlash for remarks like “not all cultures are equally valid” and for suggesting that maternity pay was excessive— a claim she later retracted.
“I do speak my mind,” she told the BBC. “And I tell the truth.”
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