Kemi Badenoch on Saturday became the new leader of the British Conservative Party, now in opposition in the United Kingdom. The activists chose this forty-year-old defender of a return to “true conservatism” and a strict policy on immigration. After three months of campaigning, this fierce “anti-woke” was elected with nearly 57% of the vote, facing Robert Jenrick, also positioned to the right of the party.
She thus becomes the first black woman to lead one of the main political parties in the United Kingdom. The election was called after the announcement of the resignation of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “The time has come to tell the truth, to stand up for our principles, to plan for our future, to rethink our politics and our thinking and to give our party and our country the fresh start they deserve,” said Kemi Badenoch just after announcing his victory.
This 44-year-old engineer by training will have a lot to do to revive the largely weakened Tories after their historic electoral debacle in the last legislative elections. With 121 elected officials, the party lost two thirds of its deputies in the House of Commons. Voters sanctioned him after 14 years in power, marked by Brexit, an austerity policy which impoverished public services and the scandals of the era of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
But many people question Kemi Badenoch’s ability to unify and rebuild a very divided party and the relevance of the turn to the right that she seems to want to make it take.
Born in the United Kingdom to parents of Nigerian origin, Kemi Badenoch arrives at the head of the Tories with a reputation as an outspoken go-getter, who appeals to the activist base, but sometimes bristles even in her own camp. During her campaign, she advocated a return to “true conservatism”, without expanding much on her political program.
After a legislative election marked by the rise to power of the far-right Reform UK party, the campaign was dominated by the subject of immigration. Kemi Badenoch made it one of his priorities, asserting in particular that it “was not good” for the country and that “all cultures are not equal” to justify a more targeted migration policy. An outing which sparked controversy, not the first for this person used to making shocking statements.
During the last Conservative Party conference, this mother of three married to a banker shocked people by suggesting that maternity leave pay was “excessive” or by estimating that 10% of civil servants in the administration were so bad that they “should be in prison.”
Very critical of “identity politics” consisting of asserting the specific rights of certain communities, Kemi Badenoch appears “anti-woke” and has accused his party of having been increasingly “liberal” on societal issues. like the genre. She also said she was “skeptical” about the carbon neutrality objective that the United Kingdom has set.
