Kemi Badenoch has become the first black woman to lead a UK party and the fourth woman to lead the Conservatives. But behind those labels, which she hates, who is she? Born in Wimbledon, raised in Nigeria and trained in computer systems engineering, Badenoch was elected as a Tory MP in 2017.
She was given her first ministerial role by Boris Johnson in 2019, and in 2022 was promoted to the cabinet by Liz Truss as the international trade secretary.
She has become known for her combative approach and penchant for wading into culture-war issues. As women and equalities minister she opposed self-ID for trans people. As business and trade secretary she was accused of "bullying and traumatising" staff, which she has denied.
This paper spoke to five people with different perspectives on her.
A former Conservative minister who has worked with her "At trade, Kemi regarded herself as the guiding mind over and above everything rather than being bothered with the detail. If you talk to her ex-ministers, quite a lot of them would say they'd go to meetings with her and it was obvious she hadn't read the brief.
That's not a great precedent.
This story is from the November 04, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the November 04, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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