.jpg/1498px-Official_portrait_of_Kemi_Badenoch_MP,_2024_(3x4_cropped).jpg)
Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Kemi Badenoch
Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch (née Adegoke; born 2 January 1980) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party since November 2024. Badenoch previously worked in the Cabinet for prime ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak from 2022 to 2024. She was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Essex, previously Saffron Walden, in 2017.
In 2012, Badenoch unsuccessfully contested a seat in the London Assembly, but became a member of the London Assembly after Victoria Borwick was elected as an MP in 2015. A supporter of Brexit in the 2016 referendum, Badenoch was elected to the House of Commons at the 2017 general election.
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 party leadership election. After Liz Truss was appointed prime minister in September 2022, Badenoch was appointed Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade and was appointed to the Privy Council; she was reappointed Trade Secretary by Truss's successor, Rishi Sunak, the following month, also becoming Minister for Women and Equalities.
In the 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. Following the Conservatives's 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 leadership election. She defeated Robert Jenrick in the members' ballot, becoming party leader and Leader of the Opposition.
Olukemi Olufunto "Kemi" Adegoke was born on 2 January 1980 in Wimbledon, London. Her mother Feyi had travelled from Nigeria to the United Kingdom for medical treatment, and gave birth in St Teresa's Maternity Hospital. This was before the British Nationality Act 1981 abolished automatic birthright citizenship for those born in the UK; Feyi then returned to Nigeria shortly after Olukemi was born. In later interviews, Badenoch denied claims she was an "anchor baby" and asserted that her family did not know she was eligible for a British passport until she was a teenager.
Her father, Femi Adegoke, was a general practitioner who later founded a publishing company in Nigeria and became an activist for the rights of the Yoruba people. Her mother Feyi was a professor of physiology at the University of Lagos. Adegoke has a brother and a sister. According to a profile in The Times, Badenoch is the first cousin once removed of former Nigerian Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
Badenoch spent her childhood living in Lagos, Nigeria, and in the United States, where her mother lectured. Badenoch has spoken about having a "very tough upbringing" in Nigeria. Her family lived in the middle class neighbourhood of Surulere and she was a student at the private International School of Lagos. Badenoch has described her background as "middle-class" but said in 2018 "Being middle class in Nigeria still meant having no running water or electricity, sometimes taking your own chair to school" and claimed that her family went through "periods of poverty" due to inflation. She returned to the UK at the age of 16 to live with a friend of her mother's owing to the deteriorating political and economic situation in Nigeria, which had affected her family. During her parliamentary maiden speech Badenoch stated that she was "to all intents and purposes a first-generation immigrant".
Hub AI
Kemi Badenoch AI simulator
(@Kemi Badenoch_simulator)
Kemi Badenoch
Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch (née Adegoke; born 2 January 1980) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party since November 2024. Badenoch previously worked in the Cabinet for prime ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak from 2022 to 2024. She was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Essex, previously Saffron Walden, in 2017.
In 2012, Badenoch unsuccessfully contested a seat in the London Assembly, but became a member of the London Assembly after Victoria Borwick was elected as an MP in 2015. A supporter of Brexit in the 2016 referendum, Badenoch was elected to the House of Commons at the 2017 general election.
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 party leadership election. After Liz Truss was appointed prime minister in September 2022, Badenoch was appointed Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade and was appointed to the Privy Council; she was reappointed Trade Secretary by Truss's successor, Rishi Sunak, the following month, also becoming Minister for Women and Equalities.
In the 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. Following the Conservatives's 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 leadership election. She defeated Robert Jenrick in the members' ballot, becoming party leader and Leader of the Opposition.
Olukemi Olufunto "Kemi" Adegoke was born on 2 January 1980 in Wimbledon, London. Her mother Feyi had travelled from Nigeria to the United Kingdom for medical treatment, and gave birth in St Teresa's Maternity Hospital. This was before the British Nationality Act 1981 abolished automatic birthright citizenship for those born in the UK; Feyi then returned to Nigeria shortly after Olukemi was born. In later interviews, Badenoch denied claims she was an "anchor baby" and asserted that her family did not know she was eligible for a British passport until she was a teenager.
Her father, Femi Adegoke, was a general practitioner who later founded a publishing company in Nigeria and became an activist for the rights of the Yoruba people. Her mother Feyi was a professor of physiology at the University of Lagos. Adegoke has a brother and a sister. According to a profile in The Times, Badenoch is the first cousin once removed of former Nigerian Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
Badenoch spent her childhood living in Lagos, Nigeria, and in the United States, where her mother lectured. Badenoch has spoken about having a "very tough upbringing" in Nigeria. Her family lived in the middle class neighbourhood of Surulere and she was a student at the private International School of Lagos. Badenoch has described her background as "middle-class" but said in 2018 "Being middle class in Nigeria still meant having no running water or electricity, sometimes taking your own chair to school" and claimed that her family went through "periods of poverty" due to inflation. She returned to the UK at the age of 16 to live with a friend of her mother's owing to the deteriorating political and economic situation in Nigeria, which had affected her family. During her parliamentary maiden speech Badenoch stated that she was "to all intents and purposes a first-generation immigrant".