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The Nigerian who has been North West Essex’s Member of Parliament now takes over the party’s leadership from Rishi Sunak. During her victory speech, Badenoch said it was “time to get down to business” after a month-long campaign and resolved to “renew” the Conservative Party, which lost to the Labour Party in 2024 after decades of being in power. The Conservative Party has suffered disunity in recent times, which has seen its membership drop from 172,000 in 2022 to less than 132,000 in 2024, and Kemi Badenoch says it is time to start afresh and rebuild the party by regaining the trust of the public. Her first “responsibility” is to form a strong opposition to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, as she said that “our party is critical to the success of our country.”
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In a social media post, Robert Jenrick congratulated Badenoch and urged his supporters to “unite behind Kemi and take the fight to this disastrous Labour government.” Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also congratulated her and expressed his optimism in her ability to “be a superb leader of our great party.” “She will renew our party, stand up for Conservative values, and take the fight to Labour,” Sunak said. Born Olukemi Adegoke on January 2, 1980, in Wimbledon, London, the new Conservative Party leader is the daughter of Yoruba Nigerian parents Femi Adegoke, who was a general practitioner, and his wife Feyi Adegoke, who was a professor of physiology. She was raised in Lagos State, Nigeria, before relocating to the UK at the age of 16.
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Before her rise to the Conservative Party’s leadership, she served in the Cabinets of former prime ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Kemi Badenoch also represented Saffron Walden from 2017 to 2024 before becoming Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Essex in 2024.
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