I am a first-generation immigrant – Kemi Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch is now the first black person and the fourth woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom. Badenoch won against Robert Jenrick with over ten thousand votes on the 2nd of November, 2024. Formerly the British business secretary, she has now succeeded Rishi Sunak as leader of the opposition.
Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (nee Adegok) was born in Wimbledon on the 2nd of January, 1980 to Feyi and Femi Adegoke. Her mother, Feyi Adegoke, was a Professor of Physiology while her father, Femi Adegoke, was a General Practitioner. She was among the last beneficiaries of the birthright citizenship rules before Magaret Thatcher abolished it in 1981, during the British Nationality Act.
Before returning to the United Kingdom at 16 to live with her mother’s friend, Badenoch lived in Nigeria and the United States of America. During this period, no Black or Asian citizen had ever been a government minister in the UK. She studied Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Sussex, completing a Master of Engineering in 2003.
She worked in the IT sector as a software engineer between 2003 and 2006, then she studied Law and graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Laws from Birkbeck, University of London.
Badenoch mentioned that her political journey was inspired by her anger as a young person. She talked about feeling pushed by career advisers and development campaigners who did not value African voices. She became a member of the Conservative Party in 2005 when she was 25 years old.
After losing her first legislative election, she contested again in 2012 and lost. She supported Brexit in 2016 and advocated for the UK’s exit from the European Union. She was shortlisted as the Conservative Party candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn in 2017, but this fell through. Then she got selected as the Conservative candidate for Saffron Walden and won the election.
Following her re-election in the December 2019 general election with an increased majority, Badenoch 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.
She was then promoted to Minister of State for Equalities. Subsequently, she became Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government before her resignation in 2022.
Badenoch has spoken in favour of migration policies that show 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.’
As the Minister for Equalities, Badenoch embraced a more constructive approach with her Inclusive Britain policy, which sought to address outstanding gaps. Owing to this, some people on the right label her as ‘too woke,’ while the left see her as a culture warrior on race and gender.
After Johnson’s resignation, Badenoch launched an effort to succeed him as Conservative Party leader but was eliminated in the fourth round of voting. During her campaign, she promised to return the Conservatives to ‘first principles’ and initiated a series of reviews to design a new policy platform in the coming months.
Badenoch calls herself a first-generation immigrant. When Liz Truss became the UK Prime Minister in September 2022, she appointed Badenoch as secretary of state for International Trade to her cabinet. When Truss resigned a month later, Badenoch supported Rishi Sunak who became the next Prime Minister and retained her upon assuming office.
During the cabinet reshuffle of February 2023, she was appointed first secretary of state at the newly created Department for Business and Trade.
In her acceptance speech, Badenoch acknowledged the formidable work ahead of the Conservative Party and her crucial role in it. “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 for 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”, she said
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