Rt. Hon. Kemi Badenoch
By Adetokunbo FAKEYE
United Kingdom Conservative Party, Saturday, 2nd November, 2024, choosed a Nigerian-British Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch as new leader in a bid to rebound from election defeat.
Badenoch, 44, received 53,806 votes to beat Jenrick’s 41,388 in a ballot election.
This first black person to reach such position takes over from former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch nee Adegoke, was born 2 January 1980.
She previously served in the Cabinet under prime ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak from 2022 to 2024.
A member of the Conservative Party, she has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Essex, previously Saffron Walden, since 2017.
In 2012, Badenoch unsuccessfully contested a seat in the London Assembly, but was appointed an Assembly Member after Victoria Borwick resigned upon becoming an MP in 2015.
A supporter of Brexit in the 2016 referendum, Badenoch was elected to the House of Commons in 2017. After Boris Johnson became prime minister in July 2019, Badenoch was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families.
In the February 2020 reshuffle, she was appointed Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities.
In September 2021, she was promoted to Minister of State for Equalities and appointed Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities.
In July 2022, Badenoch resigned from government in protest at Johnson’s leadership; she stood unsuccessfully to replace him in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.
Following Liz Truss becoming prime minister in September 2022, Badenoch was appointed as Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade and was sworn in to the Privy Council.
She was reappointed Trade Secretary by Truss’ successor, Rishi Sunak and the following month, she became Minister for Women and Equalities.
In a February 2023 Cabinet reshuffle, Badenoch assumed the position of Secretary of State for Business and Trade following the merging of the Department for International Trade with elements of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Badenoch retained the responsibilities of Women and Equalities Minister. After the Conservatives’ defeat in the 2024 general election, Badenoch was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government in Sunak’s Shadow Cabinet and later launched her bid to become leader of the Conservative Party in the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election.
She beat Robert Jenrick to become the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party starting from today, 2nd November 2024.
Profile Source: Wikipedia
