Things You Should Know About Nigeria’s Kemi Badenoch Who Wants To Become UK’s Prime Minister

A Nigerian-born British politician, Kemi Badenoch has declared her aspiration to succeed Boris Johnson as the next leader of the Conservative Party and British Prime Minister.

The former Equalities Minister, Badenoch declared her candidacy while stating her desire for a limited government and her intention to speak the truth.

In a joint statement with fellow Ministers Alex Burghart, Neil O’Brien, Lee Rowley, and Julia Lopez last Wednesday, Badenoch announced her resignation from the government, citing Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal.

She then announced on Friday, that she would take over as prime minister, becoming the second prominent Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) to enter the race following former chancellor Rishi Sunak.

BBC reports that there was a real disappointment with Sunak in Downing Street.

They accused Sunak of having a short memory, adding that it was the prime minister who trusted him and gave him a top job when he was a junior minister.

Below are things you should know about Kemi Badenoch:

Badenoch was born to Nigerian parents in Wimbledon, London. Her early years were spent in Lagos, Nigeria, and a part of the United States. At the age of 16, she went back to the UK.

Badenoch worked as a software engineer at Logica after graduating from the University of Sussex with a degree in computer systems engineering.

She then worked as a systems analyst for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group before becoming an associate director at Coutts and ultimately a director at The Spectator magazine.

At the age of 25, Badenoch joined the Conservative Party in 2005. She ran for office in the Dulwich and West Norwood constituency in the 2010 general election, losing to Tessa Jowell of Labour.

She was a Conservative Party member who held the positions of Minister of State for Equalities and Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities from 2021 to 2022.

Members of the government’s LGBT+ advisory body criticized Badenoch during her tenure as equalities minister in March for delaying the outlawing of conversion therapy.