Former Sussex University student Kemi Badenoch has won enough nominations to go through to the first ballot to become Britain’s next Prime Minister.
Mrs Badenoch, 42, quit as a government minister last week, helping to precipitate Boris Johnson’s decision to resign as PM.
She joins seven other contenders on the ballot paper tomorrow (Wednesday 13 July) including the favourite, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
The other six still in the contest to lead the Conservative Party – and the country – are Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, Penny Mordaunt, Nadhim Zahawi, Jeremy Hunt and Suella Braverman.
They all secured the 20 nominations from fellow Tory MPs needed to enter the contest formally, the chairman of the Conservatives’ 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, announced just after 6pm.
To advance beyond the first ballot tomorrow, they will need to attract at least 30 votes from the party’s 358 MPs – or be eliminated from the contest.
Further rounds of voting will whittle down the candidates until two remain – by Thursday 21 July – to go to a ballot of party members.
The winner is due to be announced on Thursday 5 September although Theresa May succeeded David Cameron without a grassroots ballot when her last remaining rival, Andrea Leadsom, stood aside.
Bookmakers’ odds suggest that she is currently the fourth favourite – behind Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss.
But she came a close second in the latest poll of grassroots party supporters for the Conservative Home website, behind Penny Mordaunt.
Those endorsing Mrs Badenoch’s campaign to lead the country include her former cabinet boss Michael Gove.
Mrs Badenoch was born in Wimbledon, London, in January 1980 and spent part of her childhood living in Nigeria and American, according to Wikipedia. Her father was a family doctor and her mother a professor of physiology.
She returned to Britain at the age of 16 and stayed with a family friend while working in McDonald’s and studying for her A levels.
She won a place at Sussex University and studied computer systems engineering, completing an MEng (master of engineering) degree in 2003.
Mrs Badenoch then studied for a law degree while working as a software engineer for consultants and banks before becoming digital director of the Spectator magazine business.
You’ve probably heard that I’m running for the party leadership. It’s important you understand why. My article in The Times today 👇 https://t.co/3CbACk0pkq pic.twitter.com/gBDyD6tb4e
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) July 9, 2022
The mother of three served as a member of the London Assembly for two years until, in June 2017, she won a seat in Parliament as the MP for Saffron Walden.
While most of her rivals in the leadership race appear to have focused on the debate about tax cuts, Mrs Badenoch has emphasised “free speech, free markets and the institutions that defend a free people”.
In an article for The Times on Saturday (9 July) she promised “an intellectual grasp of what is required to run the country in an era of increased polarisation, protectionism and populism amplified by social media”.
go, Kemi, go! GOOD LUCK
Didn’t Kemi Badenoch, as Minister of State for Equalities, mock gay marriage and trans people?
Tenuous connection to the city alert!
She used to be minister for equalities yet she doesn’t believe in equalities.
Oh no this will never do – a politician who has had a real job in the real world, who tells the truth and back a smaller state and lower regulation and laws. Watch out old guard !