Ms. Kemi Badenoch, 44 has become the first black woman to lead a major British political party after she garnered 53,806 (57%) votes ahead of former immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, who poled 41, 388 votes or 43% of votes cast by members of the British Conservative Party
Ms. Badenoch now succeeds Rishi Sunak as she pledged to lead the party to a period of renewal.
The Nigerian-British politician promised members of the that Conservative Party that she would lead the party to get ready for the task ahead and create the atmosphere to renew the parties ideals.
“The time has come to tell the truth,” “It is time to get down to business, it is time to renew,” she promised.
Looking ahead, she also clearly tells party members of what her leadership would focus on in the months and years ahead, to wit:
“The task that stands before us is tough, but simple, our first responsibility as his majesty’s loyal opposition is to hold this Labour government to account.”
“Our second is no less important, it is to prepare over the course of the next few years for government.”
Ms. Badenoch, full name Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke was born in Wimbledon, London on January 2, 1980 to Nigerian parents of Yoruba extraction. Her father was a medical doctor, while her mother was a professor of physiology. She spent her early childhood living between Lagos, Nigeria and the United States of America where her mother was a university professor. She relocated finally to the UK at the age of 16, during Nigeria’s turbulent military rule. She studied engineering at the University Sussex and later studied law at the Birkbeck University, London.
The new Conservative Party leader joined British politic in 2005 when she registered as a member of the party and has since grown to the ranks of the party, holding various elective and appointive positions within the Conservative party and government.