Kemi Badenoch

**Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch** ( ; _née_ **Adegoke**; born 2 January 1980) is a British politician who has been the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party since 2024. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Saffron Walden since 2017. She was the Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade from 2022 until 2024. She also was the Minister for Women and Equalities from 2022 to 2024.

She served in Boris Johnson's second government as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities at the Government Equalities Office from 2020 to 2022.

## Personal life

Badenoch was born in Wimbledon, London. Her parents are of Nigerian origin. Her childhood was spent in part in the Nigerian capital Lagos and the United States. She returned to the United Kingdom at the age of 16. She is married to Hamish Badenoch. The couple have three children.

## Conservative leadership candidacies

In July 2022, Badenoch announced her candidacy for Leader of the Conservative Party in the 2022 leadership election. She was eliminated in the fourth round of voting on 19 July 2022.

Badenoch was seen as a frontrunner in the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election early on in the election. On 28 July 2024, she announced she was running in the election to be the new Tory leader and Leader of the Opposition. After several rounds of voting, she faced Robert Jenrick. In the Member's vote, Badenoch defeated Jenrick with 56.5% of the vote on 31 October 2024. She was then declared the winner of the race, and thus Leader of the Conservative Party on 2 November.

## Leader of the Opposition

In her acceptance speech on 2 November 2024, Badenoch promised to "renew" the Conservative Party. She became the first black leader of any major UK political party and the fourth woman to lead the Conservative Party. In June 2025, after the agreement to return the Chagos Archipelago located in the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius, Kemi Badenoch called the agreement "terrible", "and why on earth" should British taxpayers pay for tax cuts in Mauritius.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **office1**: Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities
- **primeminister1**: Boris Johnson
- **term start1**: 16 September 2021
- **term end1**: 6 July 2022
- **predecessor1**: Luke Hall (politician), Luke Hall
- **successor1**: Paul Scully
- **office2**: Minister of State for Equalities
- **primeminister2**: Boris Johnson
- **term start2**: 14 February 2020
- **term end2**: 6 July 2022
- **predecessor2**: Susan Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford, The Baroness Williams of Trafford
- **successor2**: Amanda Solloway
- **office3**: Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
- **primeminister3**: Boris Johnson
- **term start3**: 13 February 2020
- **term end3**: 16 September 2021
- **predecessor3**: Simon Clarke (politician), Simon Clarke
- **successor3**: Helen Whately
- **office4**: Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families
- **primeminister4**: Boris Johnson
- **term start4**: 27 July 2019
- **term end4**: 13 February 2020
- **predecessor4**: Nadhim Zahawi
- **successor4**: Vicky Ford


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **office2**: Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
- **leader2**: Rishi Sunak
- **term start2**: 8 July 2024
- **term end2**: 2 November 2024
- **predecessor2**: Angela Rayner


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific prefix**: The Right Honourable
- **image**: Official portrait of Kemi Badenoch MP crop 3, 2024 (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Official portrait, 2024
- **office**: Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition
- **monarch**: Charles III
- **primeminister**: Keir Starmer
- **term start**: 2 November 2024
- **predecessor**: Rishi Sunak
- **office1**: Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party
- **term start1**: 2 November 2024
- **predecessor1**: Rishi Sunak
- **office3**: Secretary of State for Business and Trade
- **primeminister3**: Rishi Sunak
- **term start3**: 7 February 2023
- **term end3**: 5 July 2024
- **predecessor3**: Grant Shapps
- **successor3**: Jonathan Reynolds
- **office4**: President of the Board of Trade
- **primeminister4**: Liz Truss
Rishi Sunak
- **term start4**: 6 September 2022
- **term end4**: 5 July 2024
- **predecessor4**: Anne-Marie Trevelyan
- **successor4**: Jonathan Reynolds
- **office5**: Minister for Women and Equalities
- **primeminister5**: Rishi Sunak
- **term start5**: 26 October 2022
- **term end5**: 5 July 2024
- **predecessor5**: Nadhim Zahawi
- **successor5**: Bridget Phillipson
- **office6**: Secretary of State for International Trade
- **primeminister6**: Liz Truss
Rishi Sunak
- **term start6**: 6 September 2022
- **term end6**: 7 February 2023
- **predecessor6**: Anne-Marie Trevelyan
- **successor6**: _Office abolished_
- **office7**: Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament
 for North West Essex (UK Parliament constituency), North West Essex

- **term start7**: 8 June 2017
- **majority7**: 2,610 (4.8%)
- **predecessor7**: Alan Haselhurst
- **office8**: London Assembly, Member of the London Assembly
as the List of London Assembly constituencies, 4th Additional Member
- **assembly8**: London Assembly, London
- **term start8**: 5 May 2016
- **term end8**: 8 June 2017
- **predecessor8**: Gareth Bacon
- **successor8**: Susan Hall
- **office9**: Member of the London Assembly
as the List of London Assembly constituencies, 9th Additional Member
- **term start9**: 16 September 2015
- **term end9**: 5 May 2016
- **predecessor9**: Victoria Borwick
- **successor9**: Shaun Bailey (London politician), Shaun Bailey
- **birth name**: Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke
- **birth place**: Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London, England
- **party**: Conservative Party (UK), Conservative
- **children**: 3