Kemi Badenoch, 42, is competing for the position of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom against former chancellor Rishi Sunak, International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, and Tom Tugendhat.

David Frost, a former minister for Brexit, asked Kemi Badenoch to withdraw from the Tory leadership campaign this morning in order to help Liz Truss’ chances of becoming UK Prime Minister.

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British politician Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch has represented Saffron Walden as the Member of Parliament since 2017. She was a Conservative Party member who held the positions of Minister of State for Equalities and Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities from 2021 to 2022.

Badenoch was born in Wimbledon, London, to Nigerian parents. Her childhood was spent in Lagos, Nigeria, as well as the United States.

At the age of 16, she returned to the United Kingdom. Badenoch worked as a software engineer at Logica after studying Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Sussex.

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After studying law at Birkbeck, University of London, she worked as a systems analyst for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group before becoming an associate director at Coutts and then a digital director at The Spectator magazine.

Badenoch ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the London Assembly in 2012. Three years later, she was elected to the London Assembly. Badenoch voted in favour of Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum. In the 2017 general election, she was elected to the House of Commons for Saffron Walden in Essex.

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Badenoch was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families after Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019. She was appointed Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities in the February 2020 reshuffle. She was promoted to Minister of State for Equalities and appointed Minister of State for Local Government, Faith, and Communities in September 2021.