Preceded by Victoria Borwick Residence London Nationality British Name Kemi Badenoch | Political party Conservative Role Politician Children 1 Party Conservative Party | |
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Website kemibadenoch.org.uk/london.gov.uk/kemi-badenoch Similar Chuka Umunna, David Kurten, Clive Lewis (politician) | ||
Pupil Parliament: Kemi Badenoch MP reacts to New Hall School, Chelmsford
Tory MP: "Many barriers stopping female candidates coming forward"
Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch MP (née Adegoke; born January 1980) is a British Conservative politician. She was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Saffron Walden on 8 June 2017. She has previously served as a London-wide member of the London Assembly.
Contents
- Pupil Parliament Kemi Badenoch MP reacts to New Hall School Chelmsford
- Tory MP Many barriers stopping female candidates coming forward
- Early life
- Political career
- Personal life
- References
Early life
Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke was born in Wimbledon, London to parents of Nigerian origin. Her father is a GP and her mother is a professor of physiology. Adegoke's childhood included time living in the United States (where her mother lectured) and Lagos, Nigeria. She returned to the United Kingdom at the age of 16. Adegoke studied Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Sussex. She initially worked within the IT sector first as a software engineer at Logica (later CGI Group). While working there she studied part-time at Birkbeck, University of London and obtained a Law degree in 2009. Adegoke then worked as a systems analyst at RBS, before pursuing a career in consultancy and financial services, working as an associate director of private bank and wealth manager Coutts and later a director at the centre-right magazine The Spectator.
Political career
Adegoke joined the Conservative Party in 2005 at the age of 25 and has since been active in Conservative politics. In 2010 she stood in the Dulwich and West Norwood constituency against Tessa Jowell and came third behind Jowell, and Jonathan Mitchell (the Liberal Democrat candidate).
Two years later, Adegoke stood for the Conservatives in the London Assembly election where she was placed fifth on the London-wide list. The election saw the Conservatives win three seats from the London-wide list, so Adegoke was not elected. Three years later, in the 2015 general election, Victoria Borwick was elected to the House of Commons and subsequently resigned her seat on the London Assembly. The fourth placed candidate on the list, Suella Fernandes, had also been elected to House of Commons and declined to fill the vacancy. Badenoch (following her marriage in 2012) was therefore declared to be the new Assembly Member. She supported Brexit in the 2016 EU Referendum. Badenoch supports a repeal of the ban on fox hunting.
Badenoch was elected as MP for the Saffron Walden constituency in the 2017 general election with 37,629 votes and a majority of a 24,966 (41.0%). In her maiden speech on the 19 July, she described the vote for Brexit as "the greatest ever vote of confidence in the project of the United Kingdom" and cited her personal heroes as the Conservative politicians Winston Churchill, Airey Neave, and Margaret Thatcher.
Personal life
Kemi is married to Hamish Badenoch and they have one daughter and one son. She was a board member of the Charlton Triangle Homes housing association till her retirement in 2016, and was also previously a school governor at St Thomas the Apostle College, and the Jubilee Primary School (both in London).
