LONDON — Kemi Badenoch’s elevation as leader of Britain’s Conservatives is a historic moment in British politics — but you can expect the Tories to take it in their stride.
The 44-year-old is the first Black woman to become a leader of a major U.K. political party, after defeating her opponent Robert Jenrick in a vote of Tory members on Saturday.
She follows in the footsteps of a cluster of British Black and Asian Conservative MPs who have served in high office over recent years — including James Cleverly, Suella Braverman, Priti Patel and Sajid Javid.
Rishi Sunak, who lost the July election as Conservative leader, was fond of saying he was proud to be the U.K.’s first British-Asian prime minister — but “prouder that it was not that big a deal.”
Badenoch was born in the U.K. and grew up in Nigeria, before returning to London as a teenager to finish her schooling and attend university.
In 2023, she called Britain “the best country in the world to be Black” — eliciting applause from right-wing newspapers and a torrent of criticism from progressive pundits.
Read here the full article published by Politico on 4 November 2024.
Image by Politico
