Kemi Badenoch facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Right Honourable Kemi Badenoch MP
Official portrait, 2024
Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 November 2024
Monarch	Charles III
Prime Minister	Keir Starmer
Preceded by	Rishi Sunak
Leader of the Conservative Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 November 2024
Preceded by	Rishi Sunak
Secretary of State for Business and Trade
In office 7 February 2023 – 5 July 2024
Prime Minister	Rishi Sunak
Preceded by	Grant Shapps
Succeeded by	Jonathan Reynolds
President of the Board of Trade
In office 6 September 2022 – 5 July 2024
Prime Minister	Liz Truss Rishi Sunak
Preceded by	Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Succeeded by	Jonathan Reynolds
Minister for Women and Equalities
In office 26 October 2022 – 5 July 2024
Prime Minister	Rishi Sunak
Preceded by	Nadhim Zahawi
Succeeded by	Bridget Phillipson
Secretary of State for International Trade
In office 6 September 2022 – 7 February 2023
Prime Minister	Liz Truss Rishi Sunak
Preceded by	Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Junior ministerial offices Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities In office 16 September 2021 – 6 July 2022 Prime Minister Boris Johnson Preceded by Luke Hall Succeeded by Paul Scully Minister of State for Equalities In office 14 February 2020 – 6 July 2022 Prime Minister Boris Johnson Preceded by The Baroness Williams of Trafford Succeeded by Amanda Solloway Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury In office 13 February 2020 – 16 September 2021 Prime Minister Boris Johnson Preceded by Simon Clarke Succeeded by Helen Whately Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families In office 27 July 2019 – 13 February 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson Preceded by Nadhim Zahawi Succeeded by Vicky Ford
Shadow Cabinet posts Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government In office 8 July 2024 – 2 November 2024 Leader Rishi Sunak Preceded by Angela Rayner Succeeded by Kevin Hollinrake
Member of Parliament for North West Essex Saffron Walden (2017–2024)
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 June 2017
Preceded by	Alan Haselhurst
Majority	2,610 (4.8%)
Member of the London Assembly as the 4th Additional Member
In office 5 May 2016 – 8 June 2017
Preceded by	Gareth Bacon
Succeeded by	Susan Hall
Member of the London Assembly as the 9th Additional Member
In office 16 September 2015 – 5 May 2016
Preceded by	Victoria Borwick
Succeeded by	Shaun Bailey
Personal details
Born	Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke (1980-01-02) 2 January 1980 (age 45) Wimbledon, London, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Hamish Badenoch ​ (m. 2012)​
Relations	Yemi Osinbajo (first cousin once removed)
Children	3
Education	University of Sussex (MEng) Birkbeck, University of London (LLB)
Occupation	Politician software engineer consultant
Signature

Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (born Adegoke; 2 January 1980) is a British politician. Since November 2024, she has been the Leader of the Conservative Party and the Leader of the Opposition. This means she leads the main party that is not in government.

Badenoch has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 2017. She represents the area of North West Essex. Before becoming party leader, she held important government jobs, called Cabinet positions, for Prime Ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

She became the first black leader of a major political party in the United Kingdom. She is also the fourth woman to lead the Conservative Party.

Early Life and School

Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke was born in Wimbledon, London, on 2 January 1980. Her parents were from Nigeria. Her father, Femi Adegoke, was a doctor. Her mother, Feyi Adegoke, was a professor of physiology.

Badenoch grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, and also lived for a time in the United States. She has described her childhood in Nigeria as "very tough." Even though her family was middle-class, they sometimes did not have running water or electricity.

At age 16, she moved back to the UK to continue her education. She studied for her A Levels at a college in London while working at a McDonald's. She later earned a master's degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Sussex. She also studied law at Birkbeck, University of London.

Career Before Politics

Before becoming a politician, Kemi Badenoch worked in the technology industry. She was a software engineer at a company called Logica from 2003 to 2006.

After that, she worked in banking and finance. She was an associate director at the private bank Coutts. From 2015 to 2016, she was a digital director for The Spectator magazine.

Start in Politics

Badenoch speaking at the London Assembly in 2017.

Badenoch joined the Conservative Party in 2005. In 2010, she ran for a seat in Parliament but was not elected.

In 2015, she became a member of the London Assembly, which is a group that checks the work of the Mayor of London. She supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum, which was the vote for the UK to leave the European Union.

In 2017, Badenoch was elected to the House of Commons as the MP for Saffron Walden. In her first speech, she said her political heroes were Winston Churchill, Airey Neave, and Margaret Thatcher.

Government Roles

Working with Boris Johnson

When Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in 2019, he gave Badenoch her first government job. She was appointed as a minister for children and families. Later, she held roles at the Treasury and as Minister for Equalities.

In July 2022, Badenoch and several other ministers resigned from the government. They did this to show they were unhappy with Johnson's leadership.

Running for Party Leader in 2022

Badenoch's 2022 leadership campaign logo.

After Boris Johnson resigned, Badenoch ran to become the new leader of the Conservative Party. She said she wanted to be honest and believed in a "strong but limited government."

She was not well-known at the start of the race. However, she quickly became a popular candidate. She was eliminated in the fourth round of voting.

Working with Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak

When Liz Truss became Prime Minister in September 2022, she made Badenoch the Secretary of State for International Trade. This job involved managing the UK's trade with other countries.

After Truss resigned, Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister. He kept Badenoch in her trade role and also made her the Minister for Women and Equalities. In 2023, her job was expanded, and she became the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.

Leader of the Opposition

2024 Leadership Election

Logo for Badenoch's 2024 leadership campaign.

The Conservative Party lost the 2024 general election. After Rishi Sunak resigned as party leader, Badenoch announced she would run to replace him.

Her campaign was focused on renewing the party and holding the new Labour government accountable. She competed against other senior Conservatives like Robert Jenrick and James Cleverly.

Badenoch with her Campaign Chair, Rachel Maclean.

Badenoch won the final vote of MPs and then went on to a vote of all Conservative Party members. She defeated Robert Jenrick, winning 56.5% of the vote. On 2 November 2024, she was declared the new Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition.

Her Role as Leader

In her first speech as leader, Badenoch said the party had two main jobs. The first was to challenge the Labour government. The second was to prepare to be in government again in the future.

As leader, she formed her own Shadow Cabinet. This is a team of senior politicians from her party who "shadow" the real government ministers. Their job is to question the government's decisions and offer different ideas.

Political Views

Kemi Badenoch is seen as being on the right wing of the Conservative Party. She has said that American economist Thomas Sowell and English philosopher Roger Scruton have influenced her thinking.

• Race and Identity: Badenoch is against teaching ideas like white privilege as facts in schools. She has spoken out against what she calls identity politics, arguing it divides people.
• Immigration: She believes that people who move to the UK should share British values. She has called for a stricter immigration policy and a cap on the number of people coming to the country.
• Foreign Policy: Badenoch is a strong supporter of Israel. She has also said that China is a challenge to the UK and that Britain should not depend on it too much economically.
• LGBT Rights: Badenoch supports same-sex marriage. However, she has also defended the right of people to hold religious views that disagree with it. She has spoken in favour of single-sex spaces, like women's shelters and toilets.

Personal Life

Kemi Badenoch is married to Hamish Badenoch. He works for Deutsche Bank and was also a Conservative councillor. They have three children: two daughters and a son.

Badenoch describes herself as an agnostic but says she has cultural Christian values. She has said that her grandfather was a Methodist minister in Nigeria.

See also

In Spanish: Kemi Badenoch para niños