• Source:JND
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Kemi Badenoch is poised to make history as the newly elected leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, succeeding Rishi Sunak. Chosen by the Tories on Saturday, Badenoch will become the first Black woman to lead not only the Conservative Party but any major political party in the UK.

Kemi, a mother-of-three received 53,806 votes in comparison to his rival candidate Robert Jenrick, who could only win the support of 41,388 ballots. The duo remained last to fight as the four other candidates were knocked out of the race by the parliamentary party. The results of the internal election coincided with polls showing Conservatives leading the Labour Party for the first time since Dec 2021.

Who Is Kemi Badenoch

Badenoch, who will be filling in the boots of Rishi Sunak (the first non-white leader to head a conservative party) was born to Nigerian parents in the UK. Known for her upfront and no-nonsense attitude, Kemi has been a vocal critic of 'wokeism'. In her winning speech, she vowed to renew the Conservative party.

Soon after her birth, Kemi's parents took her back to Lagos where she grew up under successive military regimes before returning to the UK at the age of 16. Badenoch became MP for the first time in 2017, and during one of her campaign speeches, she recounted how she used to study under candlelight in Nigeria and used to fetch water from borewells in heavy, rusty iron buckets.

Kemi Badenoch on India

Although she travelled to India as the UK's international trade secretary to negotiate on the India-UK free trade deal with his counterpart Piyush Goyal, later said that she did not cave into India's visa demands.

“I saw as equalities minister people bringing cultural disputes from India to the streets of Leicester. We need to make sure that when people come to this country, they leave their previous differences behind,” she had said in an interview.

Kemi Badenoch Husband, Family

Badenoch is married to Hamish Badenoch, who works for Deutsche Bank and previously served as a Conservative councillor on Merton Borough Council from 2014 to 2018. The couple has two daughters and a son. Hamish also ran as a Conservative candidate for the Foyle constituency in Northern Ireland during the 2015 general election.