A former Sussex University student is battling to drum up support for her campaign to become Britain’s next Prime Minister.
Kemi Badenoch, 42, penned a piece for The Times explaining why she was putting herself forward in the contest to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader and PM.
She resigned as a minister of state last Wednesday (6 July) having served as Minister for Equalities since February 2020 and Minister for Local Government, Faith and Communities since last September. Hers was one of dozens of resignations that prompted Mr Johnson to announce that he would go.
She was previously Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury for 18 months and before that she served as Junior Minister for Children and Families.
Mrs Badenoch, one of almost a dozen MPs to have announced their intention to stand, has until 6pm to obtain the backing of at least 20 other MPs to enter the contest.
She will then need at least 30 votes in the first round of voting tomorrow (Wednesday 13 July) out of the 358 Tory MPs in the House of Commons. She had at least 16 this morning (Tuesday 12 July).
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 ballot of members when her last remaining rival, Andrea Leadsom, stood aside.
Mrs Badenoch’s former cabinet boss Michael Gove has already endorsed her and she came a close second in the latest poll of grassroots party supporters for the Conservative Home website, behind Penny Mordaunt.
Bookmakers have rapidly shortened her odds although the former Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, remains the runaway favourite for now.
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”.
She wrote: “My vote for Brexit in 2016 was a vote of confidence in our abilities as a sovereign country.”
And she criticised the “cultural establishment that will not accept that the world has moved on from Blairism”.
She wrote: “Too often people feel that whoever is elected, the answer is more government. By promising too much and trying to solve every problem, politicians don’t reassure and inspire, they disappoint and drive disillusion.
“More taxes. More rules and regulations. And ever cheaper borrowing to keep government afloat no matter what the cost to savers or the wider economy.
“Instead, we need strong but limited government focused on the essentials. Lower taxes, yes, but to boost growth and productivity, and accompanies by tight spending discipline.
“Meanwhile, our country is falsely criticised as oppressive to minorities and immoral because it enforces its own orders. We cannot maintain a cohesive nation state with the zero-sum identity politics we see today.
“Exemplified by coercive control, the imposition of views, the shutting down of debate, the end of due process, identity politics is not about tolerance or individual rights but the very opposite of our crucial and enduring British values.
“Without change the Conservative Party, Britain and the western world will continue to drift. Aggressive and assertive rivals will outpace us economically and outmanoeuvre us internationally.
“We need the discipline to transform government into an effective and streamlined machine for delivery, not a piggy bank for pressure groups.
“Rather than legislate for hurt feelings as we risk doing with the online safety bill, we must strengthen our democratic culture at a time when democratic values are under assault from without and within.
“We need to reinvigorate the case for free speech, free markets and the institutions that defend a free people because our values and our ideas are too precious not to fight for with all our heart.
“One of my heroes is the American thinker Thomas Sowell, who said that ‘if you want to help people, tell them the truth; if you want to help yourself, tell them what they want to hear’.”
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) July 12, 2022
And yesterday (Monday 11 July), in a speech to campaigners in the House of Lords, Mrs Badenoch said that she would refuse to support the online safety bill in its current form because it had “serious implications for free speech”.
The bill is due back before the Commons for its report stage tomorrow (Wednesday 13 July).
In her speech, Mrs Badenoch said that the threat to free speech was real, adding: “The facts are crystal clear.
“Firstly, on the climate of opinion, particularly in universities. A couple of weeks ago, a national survey of students revealed that 61 per cent wanted restrictions on free speech, up from 37 per cent six years ago.
“Only 17 per cent believed in unlimited free speech. Free speech is no longer something we can take for granted as a commonly shared value.
“This shift in attitudes has had dramatic real world effects. We know from the excellent work of organisations like the Free Speech Union and Index on Censorship that there have been many instances in universities of events disrupted and closed down or speakers being disinvited because their views are seen as too controversial.”
This evening, it will become clear whether a Sussex graduate can stay in the contest to become Britain’s next Prime Minister.
