Kemi Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch was born on the 2nd of January 1980 in St Teresa's Maternity Hospital in Wimbledon, south London. Her mother, Feyi Adubifa, had travelled from Nigeria for medical treatment. She returned home shortly after the birth.
The timing mattered. The British Nationality Act 1981 later ended automatic citizenship for children born in the UK. The baby, named Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke, therefore arrived as a British citizen.
Four decades on, she leads the Conservative Party and holds the title of Leader of the Opposition. How did a child who grew up in Lagos come to that office? Why does nearly every position she takes start an argument? And what does it take to hold a party together after a heavy election defeat?
Surulere, a middle-class neighbourhood of Lagos, was where the Adegoke family lived. Her father, Femi Adegoke, was a general practitioner. He later founded a publishing company in Nigeria and campaigned for the rights of the Yoruba people. Her mother was a professor of physiology at the University of Lagos, and she lectured for a time in the United States, where the family also spent part of Kemi's childhood. She has a brother and a sister. According to a profile in The Times, she is a first cousin once removed of Yemi Osinbajo, a former Nigerian vice-president.
She attended the private International School of Lagos. She has called her upbringing "very tough". In 2018 she explained what middle class meant there: "Being middle class in Nigeria still meant having no running water or electricity, sometimes taking your own chair to school." She says inflation brought her family "periods of poverty".
At 16 she returned to Britain to live with a friend of her mother's, because conditions in Nigeria were deteriorating. In her maiden speech she called herself "to all intents and purposes a first-generation immigrant".
Her origins have drawn scrutiny. She has rejected the label "anchor baby", saying her family did not know she was eligible for a British passport until she was a teenager. She has also said in several interviews that, at 16, she won a partial scholarship to Stanford University to study pre-medicine. She says it did not cover the costs. Stanford, however, did not offer a pre-med course. The admissions officer then responsible for bursaries for international students later denied that any such offer was made.
In London she enrolled at Phoenix College, a sixth form college in Morden, to take A-levels in biology, chemistry and maths. She earned a B in biology, a B in chemistry and a D in maths. In Nigeria she had been a straight-A student, and she says nobody at the college pushed her. She calls what she met there "the soft bigotry of low expectations", and says it turned her toward conservatism. Her grades fell short of what Warwick University required for an offer. Alongside her studies she worked at McDonald's and at New Look, among other jobs. It was then, she says, that she "became working class".
She went on to study Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Sussex and finished a master's degree in engineering in 2003.
Her sense of identity is blunt. She describes herself as Yoruba, not Nigerian, and has said she has nothing in common with people from the north of the country. In August 2025 she said she had not renewed her Nigerian passport since the early 2000s and no longer saw herself as Nigerian. She calls herself an agnostic who lost her faith, though also a cultural Christian. Her maternal grandfather was a Methodist minister in Nigeria.
Her own household is in London. She is married to Hamish Badenoch, a banker at Deutsche Bank. He served as a Conservative councillor on Merton Borough Council from 2014 to 2018, and he stood for the Northern Ireland Conservatives in Foyle at the 2015 general election. They have two daughters and a son. Badenoch credits the NHS with stopping her from miscarrying her first daughter, after emergency surgery when she went into labour at twenty weeks.
Until 2016 she sat on the board of the Charlton Triangle Homes housing association. She also served as a school governor at St Thomas the Apostle College in Southwark and at Jubilee Primary School.
In 2005, at the age of 25, Badenoch joined the Conservative Party. Her day job was in technology. From 2003 to 2006 she was a software engineer at Logica, later renamed CGI Inc. In the evenings she studied law part-time at Birkbeck, University of London, and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 2009. Birkbeck made her a Fellow in 2018. She worked as a systems analyst at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. She was an associate director at the private bank Coutts from 2006 to 2013, and digital director of The Spectator from 2015 to 2016.
The ballot box was slower to reward her. At the 2010 general election she stood in Dulwich and West Norwood and came third, behind Labour's Tessa Jowell and the Liberal Democrat Jonathan Mitchell. In 2012 she was fifth on the Conservative list for the London Assembly, and her party won only three seats.
Her luck turned in 2015. Victoria Borwick won a seat in the House of Commons and gave up her place on the Assembly. Suella Braverman, the fourth name on the list, was also elected an MP. Badenoch, next in line, became the new Assembly Member. She held the seat at the 2016 election, and Susan Hall succeeded her in 2017.
In the 2016 referendum she backed Brexit. In 2018 she admitted to a prank from a decade earlier, when she had hacked the website of the Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman. Harman accepted her apology, though the matter was reported to Action Fraud, the UK's cyber crime reporting centre.
For the 2017 general election she was shortlisted for the marginal seat of Hampstead and Kilburn but lost out. She was then chosen for Saffron Walden, a safe Conservative seat. She won it with 37,629 votes and a majority of 24,966, which was 41.0% of the vote.
Her maiden speech came on the 19th of July 2017. She called the Brexit vote "the greatest ever vote of confidence in the project of the United Kingdom". She named Winston Churchill, Airey Neave and Margaret Thatcher as her political heroes.
That month she joined the 1922 Executive Committee. In September she joined the Justice Select Committee, and in January 2018 she became the party's Vice Chair for Candidates. In January 2019 several Labour MPs criticised her for suggesting that Tulip Siddiq was "making a point" by delaying a scheduled caesarean section so she could attend a Brexit vote in the Commons. Badenoch voted for Theresa May's withdrawal agreement in early 2019. In the indicative votes she opposed both a referendum and a customs union with the EU. In October she voted for Boris Johnson's agreement.
By the 2019 Conservative leadership contest she was tipped as a possible candidate, only two years into her time in Parliament. She backed Michael Gove instead. When Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019, he made her Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families. In the December 2019 general election she won again, with a larger majority of 27,594, or 43.7%.
In February 2020 she became Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, and also the minister for equalities in the Department for International Trade. In January 2021 she posted screenshots of questions that the HuffPost journalist Nadine White had sent to her office, and accused White of "creepy and bizarre behaviour". White made her Twitter account private, citing the abuse she received. The National Union of Journalists and the Council of Europe's Safety of Journalists Platform criticised Badenoch. The Prime Minister's press secretary defended her and called it a "misunderstanding".
In the September 2021 reshuffle she was promoted to Minister of State for Equalities, and was made a minister for housing, communities and local government. Within days that second job was renamed Minister of State for Levelling Up Communities.
On the 6th of July 2022 she resigned from government, citing Johnson's handling of the Chris Pincher scandal. Alex Burghart, Neil O'Brien, Lee Rowley and Julia Lopez resigned with her in a joint statement. When Johnson fell, she launched her own bid for the leadership. She said she wanted to "tell the truth" and favoured "strong but limited government". She called the net zero emissions target "ill-thought through", and said politicians had become "hooked on the idea of the state fixing the majority of problems".
The Sunday Times said she began as a relatively unknown local government minister and, within a week, was the insurgent candidate. She was eliminated in the fourth round of voting and endorsed nobody. The contest ended in September 2022, and its winner, Liz Truss, had a Cabinet post waiting for her.
A seat on the Privy Council came with her first Cabinet job, as Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade under Liz Truss. Truss resigned the following month, and Badenoch backed Rishi Sunak as "the serious, honest leader we need". On the 25th of October 2022 Sunak kept her in the trade job and added the post of Minister for Women and Equalities. In the February 2023 reshuffle she became the first Secretary of State for the new Department for Business and Trade. The department took over the business and investment duties of the dissolved Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and she kept her equalities brief.
Some of her decisions in the role brought trouble. In 2022, as Equalities Minister, she approved the appointment of Joanne Cash as a commissioner on the board of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. That summer Cash donated to Badenoch's leadership campaign. In 2023 the shadow equalities minister, Anneliese Dodds, spoke of "sleaze and cronyism" and said Badenoch should "come clean" about why she had not declared a political interest. The Guardian reported that Badenoch had broken no rules. An Equality Hub spokesperson said the appointment followed a full and open competition.
In late April 2023 she announced that the government would cut the number of laws it planned to repeal to around 800, down from an original target of around 4,000. Brexit supporters, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, the architect of the original bill, were dismayed. Even so, The New Statesman ranked her the seventh most powerful figure on the British right in 2023. It called her a "darling" of many party members, despite "cooling enthusiasm".
On the 16th of July 2023 she signed the agreement for the UK to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Once ratified, it would give British exporters preferential access to a market of 500 million consumers in the Asia Pacific region, accounting for about 13% of global GDP. The government forecast, however, that membership would add only 0.08% to the economy over 10 years.
In December 2023 she refused Music Export Growth Scheme funding to the Belfast rap group Kneecap, even though the British Phonographic Industry was said to have approved the application. A government spokesperson told BBC News it was "hardly surprising" that ministers did not want to hand taxpayers' money to people opposed to the United Kingdom. The band said the real reason was a poster for its 2019 tour, which showed Boris Johnson tied to a large firework rocket. On the 29th of November 2024 the Belfast High Court ruled that withholding the £14,250 solely over the band's political views was unlawful. The Department for Business and Trade agreed that her decision had been "unlawful and procedurally unfair".
In January 2024 talks on the Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement were paused under her direction. Britain had resisted Canadian demands to lift its ban on hormone-treated beef. The collapse left a worse deal with Canada than the UK had enjoyed as an EU member, including a 245% tariff on British cheese exports.
On the 1st of May 2024 her office cited a letter from the Conservative MP Eddie Hughes to Walsall Academy as evidence for her claim that girls at a school developed urinary tract infections after avoiding gender-neutral toilets. Hughes had written in May 2023 that one female pupil had developed a UTI for that reason.
By then, boundary changes were about to erase her seat. The constituency of Saffron Walden was abolished, replaced by North West Essex.
Reports of bullying landed in July 2024, shortly after Badenoch won North West Essex with 35.6% of the vote and a majority of 2,610. The Guardian said at least three officials at the Department for Business and Trade had felt "pushed out" by "bullying and traumatising" behaviour. It said she had created an intimidating atmosphere, and that people were sometimes humiliated and left in tears. A town hall meeting had been held in December 2023 to address low morale in the department. Badenoch denied the claims. She called them smears from former staff "covering up their own failures and general gross incompetence", and accused The Guardian of acting for Labour. A department spokesperson confirmed there were no formal complaints or investigations about her behaviour.
After the election defeat, she had been named Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. She publicly criticised Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman. On the 28th of July 2024 she announced she would run for the party leadership. Her campaign was chaired by the former Planning Minister Rachel Maclean. In the days before the launch, she complained of rivals' "dirty tricks" after The Spectator quoted unflattering comments that a user called "Kemi" had posted years earlier on the Naijablog website.
She began as the frontrunner, but the MPs' ballots told a different story. In the first two rounds she came second to Robert Jenrick, with 22 votes and then 28. In the third she came third, with 30. In the final MP vote she topped the poll with 42, one ahead of Jenrick and five clear of James Cleverly, who was eliminated. Polls by YouGov and ConservativeHome had already shown her leading every rival in a head-to-head vote among members.
At the 2024 Conservative Party Conference she joked that perhaps 5 to 10 percent of civil servants were "should-be-in-prison bad". She said they leaked official secrets and "agitate" against ministers. Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA civil servants' union, told her to produce evidence or withdraw the remark.
In the members' ballot against Jenrick she took 56.5% of the vote. In her acceptance speech she promised to "renew" the party. She said the Conservatives had two responsibilities: to "hold this Labour Government to account", and to "prepare over the course of the next few years for government". She became the first black leader of any major UK political party. She was also the fourth woman to lead the Conservatives, after Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May and Liz Truss.
Her first appointment to a new frontbench came on the 4th of November 2024, when she named Rebecca Harris as Chief Whip.
"Kicked out" was the phrase Badenoch used on the 23rd of December 2024 when she spoke to BBC Radio 4's Today programme. The public, she said, had thrown the Conservatives out because they were not trusted and had not delivered. She waved away worries that her lack of specific policy positions would leave a gap for Reform UK to fill. She also admitted that the local elections of 2025 would be hard. In a January 2025 speech she went further, saying her party had told voters what they wanted to hear and worked out the details later, on Brexit and on immigration. On the 15th of January 2025 her spokesperson said there would be no Shadow Cabinet reshuffle before the next general election. On the 22nd of July 2025 she reshuffled anyway, aiming to improve unity and credibility.
In May 2025 the local elections went as she had feared. The Conservatives lost about two-thirds of the council seats they held. All 16 councils where they had a majority were lost, either to Reform UK or the Liberal Democrats, or to no overall control. Badenoch apologised to the unseated councillors and called the result "a bloodbath". On the same day, in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, the Conservatives took 7% of the vote and finished third. Reform and Labour each took 39%.
The defections began soon after. In June 2025, after a string of councillors went to Reform UK, Badenoch told the Scottish Tory conference that this was "a good thing", since those leaving did not "believe in conservatism". In July 2025 the former Cabinet ministers David Jones and Jake Berry joined Reform. She said any Tory who was "not interested in coming up with a proper policy plan" and wanted to defect was "welcome to do so".
In early September 2025 the sitting MP Danny Kruger defected, together with the former Health Minister Maria Caulfield and the former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries. It emerged that Reform headquarters had nicknamed Badenoch 'Santa Claus', because she gave them "a Christmas gift every day". She denounced the defectors as people "running away from problems". In December 2025 four former Tory MPs, Ben Bradley, Jonathan Gullis, Lia Nici and Chris Green, followed. Gullis, once the party's deputy chair, told the BBC the Conservatives had "lost touch with the people it was meant to serve".
In January 2026 the former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, the former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and the Romford MP Andrew Rosindell all left too.
The sharpest break came on the 15th of January 2026. Badenoch announced that she had removed Robert Jenrick as shadow justice secretary, withdrawn the whip and suspended his membership. She said she had been shown "clear, irrefutable evidence" that he planned to defect in a way "designed to be as damaging as possible". Later that day Jenrick appeared beside Nigel Farage and confirmed he was joining Reform UK. He criticised Mel Stride and Priti Patel for mishandling welfare reform and immigration.
Other rows ran alongside. In November 2024 she whipped Conservative MPs to abstain on a vote introducing passports for household pets travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Eurosceptics such as Nigel Farage said an opposition should oppose, not wave measures through. In early October 2025 a BBC Northern Ireland interviewer put it to her that Brexit had created an Irish Sea border. She replied, "the last time I checked, Northern Ireland did vote to leave." In fact Northern Ireland voted to remain in 2016, by 56% to 44%. The Foyle MP Colum Eastwood said it showed that mainland politicians did not take Irish issues seriously.
Late that month, a former paratrooper known as "Soldier F" was found not guilty of two murders and five attempted murders on Bloody Sunday in 1972. Badenoch said she was pleased. In May 2026 she apologised after a Conservative video showing British soldiers storming the Bogside appeared on her Twitter account. Eastwood called it "disgusting and disgraceful".
On the 2nd of January 2025 she called for a "long overdue" national public inquiry into the UK's grooming gangs. Keir Starmer accused her of jumping on a bandwagon after tweets by Elon Musk, and noted she had never raised it in her seven years in government. Professor Alexis Jay, who chaired the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, said the matter needed action, not further consultation.
In April 2025 she drew cross-party condemnation for defending Israel's decision to refuse entry to, and deport, the Labour MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed. David Lammy, then Foreign Secretary, called it "disgraceful". Days later she criticised China for barring the Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse from Hong Kong. Asked about the contrast, she said the situations were different.
After the India-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement was agreed in principle on the 6th of May 2025, she attacked its three-year National Insurance exemption for Indian workers. The Financial Times then quoted unnamed Indian officials saying she had offered a similar two-year relief while Trade Secretary.
In December 2024 she appeared in the BBC's 100 Women list.
Roger Scruton and Thomas Sowell are the thinkers Badenoch names as her influences, and she cites Sowell's Basic Economics in particular. Observers place her on the right of the Conservative Party. She describes herself as on its "liberal wing", "not really left-leaning on anything". Critics and supporters alike call her a social conservative and an "anti-woke" politician. She calls herself a "net zero sceptic" and has repeatedly voted in Parliament against measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
In April 2021 she took on Labour in the Commons over a report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which said Britain was not institutionally racist. Labour called the report "cherry-picking of data", and Dawn Butler called it "gaslighting on a national scale". Badenoch accused Labour of "wilful misrepresentations". She said it was wrong to call those who disagreed "racism deniers or race traitors", and dangerous to use slurs such as "Uncle Toms" against ethnic minority people "for daring to think differently".
A Black History Month debate in October 2020 had produced her most celebrated speech. She restated the government's opposition to schools teaching white privilege and elements of critical race theory as uncontested fact. A school that did so, she said, was breaking the law if it did not offer balance. ConservativeHome readers named it their 2020 speech of the year. In a 2022 article for The Times she described identity politics as the opposite of tolerance and individual rights.
Her stance on immigration has shifted. In December 2018 she praised the Home Secretary for lifting the annual caps on work visas. In September 2024 she wrote in The Sunday Telegraph that Britain could not assume migrants would shed "ancestral ethnic hostilities at the border", or that "all cultures are equally valid". She added that the country was "not a dormitory" for people to come and make money. She called for an integration strategy and, citing a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission head Baroness Falkner, floated mandatory integration courses on the German model. That month, on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she said that immigrants who bring "foreign conflicts" should not be welcomed.
New figures in November 2024 showed record net migration of 906,000 for the year ending June 2023. She said the Conservatives had "got it wrong". She promised a review of "every policy, treaty and part of our legal framework", and pledged a "strict numerical cap", tighter access to passports and "zero tolerance" for foreign criminals. In October 2025 she went further, saying a Conservative government would take Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights. A study by Conservative lawyers had argued that it blocks deportations and exposes veterans to prosecution. Amnesty International accused the party of scapegoating people fleeing persecution.
On colonialism she has said that terrible things happened under the British Empire and good things as well. Leaked WhatsApp messages showed her saying she did not care about colonialism, because she knew "what we were doing before colonialism got there". In a 2024 speech she credited the Glorious Revolution of 1688, rather than empire, with the certainty that paved the way for the Industrial Revolution. In June 2025 she called the deal to return the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius "terrible".
In a 2024 leadership pamphlet she argued that class no longer drove voting, and that a "new and growing bureaucratic class" was administering government rules instead of producing goods and services. In July 2025 she praised Argentina's president Javier Milei for his "chainsaw" economics and said she wanted to be "the British Javier Milei". In December 2025 she proposed moving £17 billion from green energy and research budgets to strengthen the military.
Her foreign policy leans toward Israel. She promised the Conservative Friends of Israel closer ties during her leadership bid, and in May 2025 she rejected the word genocide for the war in Gaza. After Donald Trump's 2024 election win she urged a restart of trade talks with the United States, calling it a "golden opportunity". On China she moved from calling it a "challenge" in 2023 to warning of "economic coercion" in 2024. In January 2026 she said she had "no issue" with removing the Iranian regime.
In December 2024 Nigeria's vice-president, Kashim Shettima, criticised her for what he saw as denigrating her nation of origin. Her spokesman replied that she "is not the PR for Nigeria".
A leaked 2018 audio recording surfaced through Vice News in 2021, in which Badenoch said people now wanted "men using women's bathrooms". Critics accused her of mocking gay marriage and of transphobia. A government spokesperson said the comment had been taken out of context. In March 2021 Jayne Ozanne, one of three government LGBT advisers who quit over transgender conversion therapy being left out of the ban, told her to consider her position. Ozanne called one of her speeches "appalling".
As Equalities Minister, she opposed Financial Conduct Authority plans to let transgender employees self-identify at work. She also opposed gender-neutral toilets in public buildings. She has defended single-sex spaces such as changing rooms, professional sport and domestic violence shelters. In 2023 she told the Commons that overseas routes to gender recognition would no longer be accepted for migrants from certain countries, because those countries let people transition "too easily". In December 2023 it emerged that she had met no major LGBTQ+ rights organisation since taking the job, while meeting LGB Alliance and Sex Matters. Academics at several British universities say she has promoted anti-transgender views.
In February 2024 she wrote to a parliamentary committee that children likely to grow up gay might be wrongly medicalised as transgender. She later called gender-affirming healthcare for questioning young people "a new form of conversion therapy", and announced plans to ban social transition in schools. In The Sunday Times, after the Cass Review, she said children would not have been harmed if those warning of ideological capture had been listened to.
When the Supreme Court ruled in 2025 in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers that "man" and "woman" in the Equality Act 2010 meant biological sex, she called it a "victory for all of the women who faced personal abuse or lost their jobs for stating the obvious". She called for a review of equality and gender recognition laws. In May 2025, speaking to GB News, she backed a complete ban on transgender women in women's physical sports. She said exceptions could be made for something like chess.
On same-sex marriage, she abstained in 2019 on extending it to Northern Ireland. In February 2023 she said she supported it, but defended the Scottish politician Kate Forbes for her religious view that marriage is between a man and a woman.
On abortion she describes herself as "pro-choice, but not pro-abortion up to full term". On the 18th of July 2019 she missed the vote on amendments extending abortion access and same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland. In July 2022 she abstained on one proposal about decriminalisation and voted against a telemedicine proposal. In October 2024 she opposed buffer zones around abortion clinics, and on the 17th of June 2025 she voted against a bill decriminalising self-managed abortion.
In September 2024, while campaigning for the leadership, she was asked if maternity pay was excessive. She replied that it had "gone too far, too far the other way" in business regulation. Hours later, on Sky News, she called maternity pay "a good thing" and said she did not think it excessive.
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Common questions
Who is Kemi Badenoch?
She is a British politician born on the 2nd of January 1980 in Wimbledon, London. She has led the Conservative Party and served as Leader of the Opposition since November 2024.
Where did Kemi Badenoch grow up?
She spent her childhood in Lagos, Nigeria, and in the United States, where her mother lectured. She returned to the UK at 16 to live with a friend of her mother's.
What ministerial posts did she hold before becoming party leader?
She served under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Her roles included Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Minister for Equalities, Secretary of State for International Trade, and the first Secretary of State for Business and Trade.
How did she win the Conservative leadership?
She topped the final MPs' ballot with 42 votes, one ahead of Robert Jenrick. She then beat Jenrick in the members' vote with 56.5%.
What happened to the Conservatives in the 2025 local elections?
The party lost about two-thirds of the council seats it held. All 16 councils it controlled were lost to Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats or no overall control. Badenoch called the result a bloodbath.
Why did Badenoch remove Robert Jenrick from the shadow cabinet?
On the 15th of January 2026 she said she had clear evidence he planned to defect to Reform UK in a way designed to damage the party. He joined Reform later that day.
All sources
271 references cited across the entry
- 1Pupil Parliament: Kemi Badenoch MP reacts to New Hall School, ChelmsfordUK Parliament — YouTube — 29 May 2018
- 2NewsMy life as a political spouseHamish Badenoch — 23 July 2022
- 3BookBBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British NamesThe University Press — 1990
- 4Kemi Badenoch Offers the Tory Party a Shot at RedemptionMartin Ivens — 4 November 2024
- 7BookThe Times guide to the House of Commons 2019: the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General ElectionIan Brunskill — HarperCollins Publishers Limited — 19 March 2020
- 8Kemi Badenoch becomes Tory leader following win over Robert JenrickNicholas Cecil — 2 November 2024
- 9North West Essex general election 2024 results in fullSimon Coyle — 4 July 2024
- 10Former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch announces Tory leadership bidBrendan McFadden — 8 July 2022
- 12Sunak reshuffle: Shapps named energy secretary in department shake-upJoshua Nevett — 7 February 2023
- 13NewsKemi Badenoch: Anti-woke campaigner making waves15 July 2022
- 14NewsA View from the Top: Kemi Badenoch, the 'Nigerian oil boom baby' and Tory MP who sees Brexit as a golden opportunityPaggie Pagano — 31 August 2017
- 15NewsKemi Badenoch profile: Combative past of new Tory leader4 November 2024
- 16NewsFrom a childhood in Nigeria to Tory leader: the remarkable rise of Kemi Badenoch2 November 2024
- 18NewsThe real Kemi Badenoch: key revelations from a new tell-all bookEthan Croft — 30 July 2024
- 19Kemi Badenoch's Times interview with Janice Turner: 'I'm on top of my brief. I will not be tripped up'Brian Kirsch — Kemi Badenoch — 9 February 2024
- 20Kemi Badenoch: 'I'm on top of my brief. I will not be tripped up'Janice Turner — 9 February 2024
- 22NewsNigeria roots for Kemi Badenoch's fighting spirit18 July 2022
- 24Kemi Badenoch: the UK Conservative Party's next leader-but-one?Annabelle Dickson — 18 July 2022
- 26NewsDoubts cast on Kemi Badenoch's claim of US medical school offer31 August 2025
- 27Kemi Badenoch: The battling Boudica who isn't who you think she is3 November 2024
- 28VideoIs Kemi Badenoch the Next Margaret Thatcher?The Free Press — 12 December 2024
- 29Kemi Badenoch claims she 'became working class' after working in McDonald'sDanielle de Wolf — 18 September 2024
- 30News'Theresa factor' credited with surge in women candidates as party looks set to make history by securing more women MPs than ever beforeBen Riley-Smith — 6 May 2017
- 31Engineer, hacker and Ron DeSantis fan: five things about Kemi BadenochPeter Walker — 2 November 2024
- 32Theme: Our destiny in our handsTEDxEuston
- 33NewsConservative general election candidate to replace Sir Alan Haselhurst in Saffron Walden seat named as Kemi BadenochWill Lodge — 2 May 2017
- 34BookWho's WhoA & C Black — 1 December 2016
- 35Kemi Badenoch (past staff)Greater London Authority — 7 May 2015
- 36NewsWestminster's new intake – with some notable firstsBen Quinn — 10 June 2017
- 37Interview: Kemi Badenoch – "I'm not really left-leaning on anything...I always lean right instinctively"Andrew Gimson — 21 December 2017
- 39NewsI joined the Tories for the partying, says Kemi BadenochKate Whannel — 25 January 2026
- 41NewsLondon Assembly Results
- 42KensingtonUK Polling Report
- 43NewsFareham7 May 2015
- 44New Assembly Member appointedLondon Assembly — 16 September 2015
- 45Results 2016London Elects
- 46NewsTory vice-chair Kemi Badenoch admits hacking Labour MP's websiteGreg Heffer — 8 April 2018
- 47NewsHarriet Harman accepts Tory rising star's hacking apologyNadia Khomami — 9 April 2018
- 49NewsMeet London's new generation of Conservative MPsPhoebe Luckhurst — 4 May 2017
- 50NewsKemi Badenoch: I'm black but I'm also a woman, a mum and an MPRosamund Urwin — 14 June 2017
- 51NewsSaffron Walden
- 53Kemi Badenoch's maiden speech in the Commons19 July 2017
- 541922 Executive Committee election results announced. Two new MPs join it – Badenoch and LamontMark Wallace — 18 July 2017
- 55Membership — Justice CommitteeUK Parliament
- 56NewsNovice Tory MP Kemi Badenoch put in charge of selecting Conservative candidates for 2022 general electionChristopher Hope — 8 January 2018
- 57NewsHow MPs voted on May's withdrawal deal defeat29 March 2019
- 58NewsHow your MP voted for Boris Johnson's Brexit dealLizzy Buchan — 22 October 2019
- 59Tory accuses pregnant Labour MP over pledge to attend Brexit voteDan Sabbagh — 15 January 2019
- 60Conservative MP claims pregnant Labour MP delaying birth for Brexit vote to 'make a point'Lizzy Buchan — 15 January 2019
- 61NewsWhere is Britain's 'Macron moment'?Nicholas Watt — 8 October 2018
- 62NewsSaffron Walden13 December 2019
- 63NewsGeneral Election 2019: Kemi Badenoch re-elected as Conservatives hold Saffron WaldenHollie Ryder — 13 December 2019
- 65NewsKemi Badenoch replaces Nadhim Zahawi as children's ministerFreddie Whittaker — 29 July 2019
- 66NewsMPs change roles in Tory government reshuffleAndra Maciuca — 14 February 2020
- 67NewsMinister under fire over tweets about journalist who sent her questionsPeter Walker et al. — 29 January 2021
- 68NUJ condemns online and offline abuse of Nadine WhiteNational Union of Journalists — 1 February 2021
- 69Journalist Nadine White Smeared by Minister for EqualitiesCouncil of Europe — 1 February 2021
- 70NewsNo 10 defends minister who criticised HuffPost journalist on TwitterPeter Walker — 1 February 2021
- 71Ministerial appointments: September 202115 September 2021
- 72NewsMichael Gove heads rebranded 'Department for Levelling Up'Gavin Cordon — 19 September 2021
- 73I'm the Minister for Levelling Up at @MHCLGKemi Badenoch — 16 September 2021
- 74NewsGovernment has 'no plans' to remove public notices from regional pressDavid Sharman — 1 November 2021
- 75NewsBoris Johnson's government crumbles after six more ministers quit in one goFaye Brown — 6 July 2022
- 77Tory MPs hit back at 'treacherous' Rishi Sunak as leadership race beginsPeter Walker et al. — 9 July 2022
- 78NewsKemi Badenoch: 'My late father taught me about responsibility'Edward Malnick — 9 July 2022
- 79NewsKemi Badenoch: Labour's still living in the past on raceHarry Yorke — 17 July 2022
- 80NewsThree remain in Tory leadership race after Kemi Badenoch eliminated19 July 2022
- 82NewsNew cabinet: Who is in Liz Truss's top team?7 September 2022
- 84NewsTory leadership: Kemi Badenoch backs Rishi Sunak to be the next PM22 October 2022
- 85NewsKemi Badenoch: Sunak is the serious, honest leader we needKemi Badenoch
- 86NewsUK's Badenoch re-appointed as trade minister, takes on equalities brief25 October 2022
- 87Kemi Badenoch appointed secretary of state for business and tradeMartinez, Valeria — 7 February 2023
- 88NewsKemi Badenoch gives leadership campaign donor equalities jobJessica Elgot — 9 February 2023
- 89NewsTories to leave thousands of EU laws intact in latest Brexit betrayalChristopher Hope — 27 April 2023
- 90NewsBonfire of EU laws watered down to just 800 after meeting of Brexiter MPsLisa O'Carroll — 28 April 2023
- 91NewsBrexit is being surrendered to the declinist Europhile establishmentJacob Rees-Mogg — 7 January 2023
- 92The New Statesman's right power list27 September 2023
- 93NewsCPTPP trade deal will benefit UK if we use it, says Kemi Badenoch16 July 2023
- 94NewsKneecap funding refusal 'attack on culture'20 June 2024
- 95NewsKneecap win case over 'unlawful' UK government funding block29 November 2024
- 96NewsKneecap: UK government acted illegally in withholding funding from Irish rap trio29 November 2024
- 97NewsPost-Brexit trade talks with Canada paused amid row over beef and cheese26 January 2024
- 98NewsUK-Canada trade rift: What it means for cheese, beef and cars27 January 2024
- 100NewsBadenoch claims girls developed UTIs due to lack of single-sex toilets at schoolAletha Adu — 1 May 2024
- 102Badenoch appointed shadow levelling up secretaryKwame Boakye — 9 July 2024
- 103Kemi Badenoch 'rips into Rishi Sunak to his face in front of top Tories'Dave Burke — 10 July 2024
- 104Kemi Badenoch dismisses accusations she bullied civil service staffDavid Lynch — 30 July 2024
- 105NewsKemi Badenoch accused of 'bullying and traumatising' staffPippa Crerar — 30 July 2024
- 106Kemi Badenoch rejects bullying accusations as 'utterly false smears'Alexandra Rogers — 31 July 2024
- 107NewsKemi Badenoch announces bid to become Tory leaderSam Francis — 28 July 2024
- 108Kemi Badenoch launches Tory leadership bid as Suella Braverman withdraws from contestTom Watling — 28 July 2024
- 109Londoner's Diary: Kemi Badenoch launches leadership bid with merch and warm CokeClaudia Cockerell — 2 September 2024
- 110NewsKemi Badenoch accuses Conservative leadership rival of 'dirty tricks'26 July 2024
- 111NewsCould these be the online comments of young Kemi Badenoch?25 July 2024
- 112NewsQuestioning "Kemi's" comments29 July 2024
- 113NewsCameron's babes5 April 2010
- 114Kemi Badenoch has double the support of Suella Braverman among members to be next Tory leader, poll suggestsTim Baker — 10 July 2024
- 115NewsPriti Patel knocked out of Tory leadership contest in first roundKiran Stacey — 4 September 2024
- 116STRIDE ELIMINATED ON THE SECOND BALLOTGiles Dilnot — 10 September 2024
- 117NewsKemi Badenoch leads in first YouGov poll of Tory members for 2024 leadership contestPatrick English — 23 August 2024
- 118Our survey. Badenoch maintains her lead in the leadership race - and defeats all comers in the final round.Henry Hill — 4 September 2024
- 119Badenoch 'joking' over claim 10% of civil servants 'should be in prison'Faye Brown — 1 October 2024
- 120NewsSome civil servants so bad they should be in prison, says Kemi BadenochJessica Elgot — 1 October 2024
- 121NewsCleverly ahead in Tory race, as Tugendhat voted out8 October 2024
- 122NewsTory leadership race: James Cleverly knocked out - leaving Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch as final two facing party membership voteAlexandra Rogers — 9 October 2024
- 124NewsWhat Kemi Badenoch's victory means for the ConservativesKaty Balls — 2 November 2024
- 126Kemi Badenoch wins Tory leadership election2 November 2024
- 127Kemi Badenoch appoints Rebecca Harris as chief whip in shadow cabinet3 November 2024
- 128NewsBadenoch: I won't reshuffle shadow Cabinet before general election15 January 2025
- 129BBC 100 Women 2024: Who is on the list this year?BBC — 3 December 2024
- 130Kemi Badenoch says there is no 'quick fix' for Conservative Party23 December 2024
- 131NewsBadenoch criticises Tory handling of Brexit16 January 2025
- 133NewsBadenoch vows to reverse Starmer's EU deal19 May 2025
- 134Politics latest: Cleverly returns to shadow cabinet but Jenrick could miss out on top role in Tory reshuffleKate Devlin et al. — 22 July 2025
- 135NewsBadenoch registers gift of £8,177 for Murdoch meeting in GreeceKate Whannel — 23 September 2026
- 136NewsBadenoch under fire from Brexiteers for waving through pet passports for Northern Ireland14 November 2024
- 137NewsBadenoch mistakenly says NI voted in favour of Brexit2 October 2025
- 139NewsSoldier F cleared of two murders, five attempted murders on Bloody SundayVincent Kearney — 23 October 2025
- 140NewsNorthern Ireland's political leaders divided over Soldier F acquittal24 October 2025
- 141NewsSoldier admits shooting fourth man3 October 2003
- 142NewsKemi Badenoch apologises after Bloody Sunday footage used in video2 May 2026
- 143NewsKemi Badenoch calls for national inquiry into 'rape gangs'2 January 2025
- 145NewsKemi Badenoch calls for 'long overdue' national inquiry into UK grooming scandal2 January 2025
- 148NewsElon Musk: Jess Phillips deserves to be in prison over Labour refusal to launch grooming inquiryDominic Penna — 2 January 2025
- 150Starmer hits back at Musk and 'poison of the far-right'6 January 2025
- 152NewsUK politics: Yvette Cooper says victims and survivors panel being set up after child abuse inquiry recommendations – as it happenedAndrew Sparrow et al. — 6 January 2025
- 156NewsReform UK Surges as Conservatives Lose Seats: 4 Local Elections TakeawaysLizzie Dearden — 2 May 2025
- 157NewsLocal election results 2025 in EnglandBBC News
- 158I am sorry for Tory election 'bloodbath'Kemi Badenoch — 2 May 2025
- 159NewsReform wins Runcorn byelection by just six votes in blow to LabourJosh Halliday — 2 May 2025
- 161NewsBadenoch backed 'two-tier' tax deal, says India7 May 2025
- 162Badenoch warns Tory MPs against plotting and psychodramaJennifer McKiernan — 19 January 2026
- 163NewsKemi Badenoch thinks people leaving Conservatives is a 'good thing'13 June 2025
- 165NewsFormer Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry defects to Reform UKJacob Paul — 9 July 2025
- 167NewsConservative MP Danny Kruger defects to Reform UK15 September 2025
- 168Former Conservative minister Maria Caulfield defects to Reform16 September 2025
- 169NewsEx-Tory minister Nadine Dorries defects to Reform UKKate Whannel
- 170NewsWhy Farage has nicknamed Badenoch Santa Claus21 September 2025
- 171NewsKemi Badenoch slams defecting Conservatives as 'running away from problem16 September 2025
- 172Former Tory MP and council leader joins Reform UKTom Oakley — 11 December 2025
- 173NewsThree former Tory MPs defect to Farage's Reform1 December 2025
- 174NewsSuella Braverman defects to Reform26 January 2026
- 175Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi defects to Reform UK12 January 2026
- 176NewsTory shadow minister defects to Reform18 January 2026
- 177NewsKemi Badenoch Sacks Robert Jenrick Over Plot To Defect To Reform UK15 January 2026
- 178NewsJenrick defects to Reform UK after being sacked by ToriesJennifer McKiernan et al. — 15 January 2026
- 179Read in full: Tory defector Robert Jenrick's speech as he's unveiled by Reform UKStephen Rigley — 15 January 2026
- 180NewsUK will leave ECHR if Tories win election, Badenoch says4 October 2025
- 182MSN
- 185NewsAndrew Griffith and Tom Tugendhat join Badenoch’s top team in Tory reshuffleJessica Elgot — 2026-08-31
- 186Who is Kemi Badenoch? What is her background on Brexit and anti-woke agendaRachael Burford — 16 July 2022
- 187Interview: Kemi Badenoch – 'I'm not really left-leaning on anything...I always lean right instinctively'Andrew Gimson — 21 December 2017
- 188I want to set us free by telling people the truthKemi Badenoch — 9 July 2022
- 189Kemi Badenoch's maiden speech in the Commons19 July 2017
- 190Kemi Badenoch: The anti-woke Brexiteer making waves in the Tory leadership raceSean O'Grady — 16 July 2022
- 191NewsKemi Badenoch: Anti-woke campaigner making waves15 July 2022
- 192What Kemi Badenoch means for the UK's fragile consensus on climate changeMitya Pearson — 6 November 2024
- 193Kemi Badenoch's climate scepticism: a growing problem for the Conservative Party and its votersPallavi Sethi — 12 November 2024
- 194NewsPopulist and rightwing figures take aim at Ed Miliband and UK net zero policies at ‘anti-woke Davos’Ben Quinn — 23 June 2026
- 195...I'm pro-choice, but not pro-abortion up to full term...18 June 2025
- 196These are the MPs who voted against lifting abortion abortion ban and same-sex marriage in Northern IrelandChris Baynes — 10 July 2019
- 197The Tory leadership candidates views on abortion rightsMaya Oppenheim — 15 July 2022
- 198NewsMPs back abortion clinic buffer zone law18 October 2022
- 199MPs vote to decriminalise abortion in historic change to reproductive rightsKate Devlin et al. — 17 June 2025
- 200NewsMPs back legalising assisted dying in England and Wales after historic Commons voteFaye Brown — 20 June 2025
- 201NewsEqualities minister Kemi Badenoch slams 'bad faith' critics of government-commissioned race reportAlan McGuinness — 20 April 2021
- 202Kemi Badenoch hits out at 'appalling abuse' following controversial race reportNadine White — 21 April 2021
- 204Teaching white privilege as uncontested fact is illegal, minister saysJessica Murray — 20 October 2020
- 205Speech of the year: Kemi Badenoch on critical race theory29 December 2020
- 206Badenoch Backpedals on Her Contradictory Immigration Statements - Edge MediaKira Jade Lang-Pertoll — 19 August 2024
- 207NewsMigrants who come to Britain must uphold its traditions, not change themKemi Badenoch — 28 September 2024
- 208News'Not all cultures equally valid' when it comes to immigration, says BadenochAletha Adu — 29 September 2024
- 209NewsIntegration in Britain is failing, says equalities chiefEdward Malnick — 9 March 2024
- 210Badenoch and Jenrick at odds on tackling immigration29 September 2024
- 213NewsNet migration hit record 906,000 last yearTom McArthur — 28 November 2024
- 214NewsKemi Badenoch suggests Brexit is not working as Tory leader admits migration failureDavid Maddox — 28 November 2024
- 215Tories got immigration wrong, says Kemi Badenoch27 November 2024
- 216NewsBadenoch: claiming benefits should bar foreign workers from settling in UKMichael Savage — 5 February 2025
- 217NewsTories would bar benefit-claim migrants from settling in UK6 February 2025
- 218NewsWould the new Tory plan bring down immigration?6 February 2025
- 220NewsHas UK-India trade deal 'sold out British workers' as Farage and Badenoch claim?Eleni Courea — 7 May 2025
- 221UK Conservative Party picks pro-Israel Kemi Badenoch as new leader2 November 2024
- 222'Israel fighting the UK's proxy war' says Kemi BadenochElis Gjevori — 25 May 2025
- 223UK Conservative Party elects pro-Israel leaderEtgar Lefkovits — 4 November 2024
- 225NewsA trade deal with America is within our grasp – but will Labour squander the opportunity?Kemi Badenoch — 9 November 2024
- 227NewsNet zero is gifting our future to an increasingly dominant ChinaKemi Badenoch — 7 September 2024
- 228NewsBadenoch stands by Nigeria comments after criticism11 December 2024
- 229Badenoch: My party is 'last line of defence' for Israel in ParliamentLee Harpin — 19 May 2025
- 233NewsUK wants peaceful transition of power in Iran, says ministerRowena Mason — 11 January 2026
- 234NewsStarmer defends Iran response as Badenoch calls for more actionBecky Morton — 4 March 2026
- 235News'RAF must strike Iran' to 'prevent more attacks' on UK bases, Badenoch urgesFlaminia Luck — 5 March 2026
- 236Equalities minister says British Empire achieved 'good things' throughout ruleZaina Alibhai — 21 March 2022
- 237News'I Don't Care About Colonialism': Read UK Equalities Minister's Leaked WhatsAppsBen Hunte — 22 September 2021
- 238NewsKemi Badenoch: 'UK's wealth isn't from white privilege and colonialism'Kalyeena Makortoff — 18 April 2024
- 239NewsTories accuse PM of funding tax cuts for MauritiansBrian Wheeler — 11 June 2025
- 240Boris Johnson's new equalities minister abstained from key LGBT+ votesGina Gambetta — 21 February 2020
- 242JournalThe Influence of Authoritarian Beliefs on Support for Transgender Rights in the UKAnna McLean et al. — 2025
- 243JournalMoral panics and legal projects: echoes of Section 28 in United Kingdom transgender discourse and law reformSandra Duffy — 2025
- 244BookHate Crime Perpetrators: New Perspectives from Theory, Research and PracticeJ. Pickles et al. — Palgrave Macmillan — 2025
- 245UK Equalities Minister Goes on Anti-LGBTQ Rant in Leaked AudioBen Hunte — 17 September 2021
- 246Tory equalities minister Kemi Badenoch mocks LGBT+ rights and trans people in leaked recordingLily Wakefield — 17 September 2021
- 247News'Appalling' speech by equalities minister was final straw, says LGBT+ adviser who quit governmentAdam Forrest — 11 March 2021
- 248Exclusive: UK Government Pushed City Watchdog to Cancel Trans Inclusion PolicyBen Hunte — 14 July 2022
- 249News'You can't say that': Civil servants tried to stop Kemi Badenoch's gender-neutral toilet reformsCamilla Turner — 11 July 2022
- 250We need to change the law to protect women's spacesKemi Badenoch — 2 June 2024
- 251Kemi Badenoch confirms UK 'blacklist' for countries that allow trans self-IDSophie Perry — 6 December 2023
- 253NewsGender-affirming care for children 'form of conversion therapy', says BadenochAletha Adu — 6 December 2023
- 254Kemi Badenoch: 'epidemic' of children being told they're transAubrey Allegretti et al. — 7 December 2023
- 255Gagging of the brave has let gender ideologues seize controlKemi Badenoch — 13 April 2024
- 256Supreme Court backs 'biological' definition of woman15 April 2025
- 258NewsKemi Badenoch calls for broader review of equality and gender recognition laws17 April 2025
- 260Kemi Badenoch claims maternity pay remarks were 'misrepresented'Jennifer Scott — 29 September 2024
- 261Kemi Badenoch: Conservatism is in crisis, and we need to be serious about getting it back on trackKemi Badenoch — 30 September 2024
- 262NewsCut green spending to make UK ready for war, Tories say18 December 2025
- 263NewsKemi Badenoch: Who is new Tory leader and what does she stand for?Chas Geiger — 2 November 2024
- 264NewsKemi Badenoch: New vice-chairman of the Conservatives talks about her fight to recruit a more diverse range of MPsJoe Murphy — 27 February 2018
- 265My husband and I are delighted to announce the birth of our third child, a baby girl born last week. We are thrilled and grateful for the love and support from family, friends, colleagues and constituentsKemi Badenoch — 27 September 2019
- 266Hamish BadenochMerton Council — 4 April 2019
- 268NewsElection 2015: Passionate fight in Foyle constituency29 April 2015
- 269Annual Review to Tenants 2016Charlton Triangle Homes
- 270NewsKemi Badenoch reveals how she told on exam cheat as teenagerBrian Wheeler — BBC News — 7 August 2025
- 271Josef Fritzl case made me reject God, reveals BadenochGenevieve Holl-Allen — The Daily Telegraph — 7 August 2025
- 273NewsFormer faith minister, Catholic MP in running to replace Boris JohnsonTola Mbakwe — 9 July 2022
- 274'I will die protecting this country': Kemi Badenoch on where she plans to take the ToriesKaty Balls et al. — 14 December 2024
- 275Kemi Badenoch: I don't identify as Nigerian any moreOttilie Mitchell — BBC — 2 August 2025