Kemi Badenoch has been chosen as the leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative Party, becoming the first Black woman to lead a big British party. The very outspoken, right-wing politician succeeds former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, winning 57% of the nearly 100,000 votes to rival candidate Robert Jenrick’s 43%.
Badenoch is now the Conservative Party’s fourth female leader, following Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May, and Liz Truss, who became prime ministers. She is the first Conservative leader with African ancestry and the second leader of color after Sunak.
In a victory speech to a packed house of Conservative legislators, staff, and journalists in London, the 44-year-old trailblazer stated, “The task that stands before us is tough but simple.” Badenoch said the party’s job was to hold the Labour government to account and to craft pledges and a plan for government, according to the Associated Press.
Addressing the party’s election drubbing, she said, “We have to be honest—honest about the fact that we made mistakes, honest about the fact that we let standards slip.”
“The time has come to tell the truth, to stand up for our principles, to plan for our future, to reset our politics and our thinking, and to give our party and our country the new start that they deserve,” Badenoch added.
Badenoch, a former software engineer who served as a business secretary in Sunak’s administration, was born in London to Nigerian parents and spent much of her early years in West Africa.
She moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 16 and became the MP for Saffron Walden in 2017 after replacing Nadhim Zawahi. The software and IT engineer studied Systems Engineering at the University of Sussex and later pursued a law degree before spending some years in the IT and banking sectors, working in the banking sector for firms such as Coutts and RBS, reports The Guardian.
As per the Associated Press, she presents herself as a disruptor who advocates for a free-market, low-tax economy and promises to “rewire, reboot, and reprogram” the British government. Unlike her fellow right-winged rival, she has not called for Britain to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, but she has opposed multiculturalism and advocated for reduced immigration.
Badenoch has vowed to bring about “renewal” for the right-of-center Conservatives by opposing identity politics and advocating for a smaller state.
Before serving in Sunak’s administration, she made it into the cabinet of Boris Johnson in 2019. The Nigeria-born lawmaker took the office of Junior Minister for Children and Families following a government reshuffle.
Her post encompassed “child protection, children in care, adoption, care leavers, social work, local authority performance, and family law.”
