Kemi Badenoch is the new Conservative leader, and for many voters she will be something of an unknown quantity, despite having been an MP for several years and a former cabinet minister. Here are five things you might not yet know about her.
She’s an engineer – but not the kind that builds bridges
During the campaign, Badenoch made much of her engineering background, arguing that it allowed her to view problems in an analytical way, unburdened by ideology. She is not wrong to call herself an engineer, but her undergraduate degree and master’s, from the University of Sussex, were in computer systems engineering. She went on to work as a software engineer, before branching out into consultancy and financial services. Badenoch could also call herself a lawyer, having also completed a bachelor of law degree part-time at Birkbeck, University of London – but tends to be quieter about this.
She’s a fan of Ron DeSantis, and it’s mutual
While Badenoch managed to style herself as the more moderate of the final two candidates, she is an enthusiastic, US-style culture warrior, and has won the admiration of Ron DeSantis, the hardline Republican governor of Florida, who has waged his own battles against the apparent scourge of “woke” thinking, including a ban on many books from school libraries. Endorsing Badenoch to be Tory leader, DeSantis said she “flies the flag of bold colours” of conservatism. The pair got to know each other when Badenoch was trade secretary, with DeSantis telling a UK newspaper that she told him she backed his policies, which have also included a series of policies targeting LGBTQ+ communities. “She complimented what we are doing in Florida,” DeSantis said. “She committed that it is what they are trying to do in Britain.”
Some of the fights she picks are curious, and minor
One of the things about Badenoch perhaps best-known among voters is her willingness to wade into a fight and some enjoy her pugilistic approach. But among some Tory MPs, there is a worry that she can be too haphazard over this. Perhaps the most striking example came in 2021 when the then-relatively little known equalities minister took to Twitter to lambast a journalist for being “creepy and bizarre” by asking what seemed to be some fairly routine questions. Boris Johnson’s No 10 defended Badenoch, but in private, a number of officials and MPs were baffled.
Sometimes she can also take on the Tory right
While Badenoch is, by most definitions, from the populist-leaning side of her party, and always supported leaving the EU – unlike Robert Jenrick – she is not universally popular with the Brexiter right wing of the Conservatives. Some of this dates back to 2023 when, as business secretary, Badenoch pushed through a U-turn over a promise to ditch thousands of EU laws retained on the UK’s statute books by the end of the year. Badenoch presented this as pragmatism, but was faced by open fury from Tory Brexiters such as Mark Francois. Some of the anger was simply a result of the decision, but part of it came from Badenoch’s own approach, responding to a Commons urgent question on the matter with, as one observer put it, “astonishing rudeness” at times.
She hacked Harriet Harman’s website – and admitted it
Normally when politicians are asked in interviews to name the naughtiest thing they have ever done, they concoct a charming and self-effacing anecdote about mild boisterousness. When Badenoch was asked, she admitted a potential breach of the Computer Misuse Act, an offence carrying a jail term of up to five years. This was 2018, when a video in which Badenoch replied to the question emerged, in which the then new MP said: “About 10 years ago, I hacked into a Labour MP’s website and I changed stuff in there to say nice things about Tories.” It turned out that she had put up a fake post on Harriet Harman’s website in 2008, saying Harman backed Boris Johnson in the London mayoral elections, having guessed the website password. Luckily, Harman accepted her apology.