‘My late father taught me responsibility,’ she says.
Former Equalities Minister and Nigerian-born Kemi Badenoch has declared her candidacy for Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), promising “limited government” and a “focus on the essentials.”
The Saffron Walden MP stated that she supports lower taxes “to boost growth and productivity, accompanied by strict fiscal discipline.”
She also slammed “identity politics,” writing in The Times that Boris Johnson is “a symptom of the problems we face, not the cause of them.”
“Platitudes and empty rhetoric have worn people down. “It is not enough to love our country, our people, or our party,” she explained.
“What’s missing is an intellectual understanding of what it takes to run a country in an era of increased polarisation, protectionism, and populism, all amplified by social media.”
She stated that today’s Britain requires “a nimble centre-right vision” that “can achieve things despite entrenched opposition from a cultural establishment that will not accept that the world has moved on from Blairism.”
Badenoch’s declaration capped off a day in which many Conservatives declared their support for the leadership race.
Rishi Sunak announced his long-awaited candidacy, with the support of Commons Leader Mark Spencer, former Tory Party co-chairman Oliver Dowden, former chief whip Mark Harper, ex-ministers Liam Fox and Andrew Murrison, and MPs Sir Bob Neill and Paul Maynard.
Kemi Badenoch’s childhood memories in Nigeria bring tears to her eyes. Her father, Femi Adegoke, died of a brain tumour only five months ago.
He had no idea that his daughter would be running for Prime Minister just three years after joining the government.
Badenoch, on the other hand, claims her father instilled in her a sense of “personal responsibility.” She resigned from the government last week in order to force Johnson to resign.
In an interview with The Telegraph, she has now explained why she is running for Conservative Party leader. In a nutshell, she thinks the government has gone astray.
“I believe we have accepted an incorrect consensus: that the government should be involved in and do everything,” she said.
However, Badenoch, who resigned as equalities and local government minister last week in a joint move with four friends and colleagues, believes the government is “doing many things badly and doing things in the wrong way.”
