Within the Tories, she experienced a meteoric rise. Elected MP in 2017, she quickly rose through the ranks, standing out for her competence and outspokenness. She held several ministerial posts, including Secretary of State for Business and Commerce, where she defended pragmatic conservatism.
Kemi Badenoch: who is the new ultra-right leader of the Tories?
After failing to take the lead of the party in 2022, she was the favorite this time. She is said to be combative, and whether you love or hate her talent for controversy, she is now the first black woman to lead one of the UK’s main political parties.
She calls herself “antiwoke” and recalls Thatcher
Pro Brexit, she believes that British society must be protected from external influences. Despite her origins, she states that “not all cultures are equal” and opposes diversity programs and what she perceives as a “culture of victimhood”, openly criticizing initiatives woke which, according to her, divide more than they unite.
She is another “Iron Lady”, according to the British press. Like Thatcher, Badenoch embodies uncompromising conservatism, and advocates meritocracy and liberalism. A “muscular liberalism”, even. Like Thatcher, she came to the helm of the Conservative Party with a mission to transform her political family and the country, in fierce opposition to the socialists. And, in the wake of Rishi Sunak, whose Minister of Commerce she was for two years, she considers immigration as a threat. Uncompromising on the subject, she does not mince her words: “immigration is not good for the country”. And it is with these kinds of little phrases that, like Thatcher, she attracts the wrath of some in her own camp. So, is Badenoch a visionary ready to defend British values and turn around the Conservative Party or an obstacle to a more equal society?
Kemi Badenoch: who is the new ultra-right leader of the Tories?
Raise the party and take aim at Downing Street
For her, the moment is crucial. She inherits a weakened Conservative Party, tainted by scandals and a crushing electoral defeat. She must regain the trust of a disillusioned and fragmented electorate, while facing a resolute Labor majority, embodied by Keir Starmer. But that doesn’t scare him. If expectations are high, Badenoch seems ready to fight, driven by the mission of embodying renewal for the British Conservatives, and does not hide his ambitions for the next elections. When the results were announced, she declared: “the task before us is difficult but simple: we must hold the Labor government to account, prepare to govern again and, at the next election [probablement pas avant 2029, NdlR]we must have a clear plan for change for our country.”
If his determination is in no doubt, this new era of ultra-right in opposition could also prove risky, particularly among a more nuanced electorate. Badenoch knows that she must find a balance between the firmness of her convictions and the expectations of an inherently multicultural society, with the migratory challenge in its sights. Whether she succeeds or not, she is now an essential element of the British political scene, and her career will be decisive for the future of the Conservative Party, but also for British politics as a whole.
