Kemi Badenoch: the culture warrior winning over Tories

During her time in government she has been a leading foot-soldier in the so-called war on woke, and faced “criticism for her overtly trenchant views on culture war issues, notably her belief that racial disparities are often overplayed and not structural, and are exploited for division by those on the left”, said The Guardian.

ConservativeHome readers voted her speech on critical race theory their speech of the year in 2020, despite receiving condemnation from academics after she accused schools of teaching white privilege as an uncontested fact, saying this was breaking the law.

In March this year, the BBC reported that Badenoch was criticised by members of the government’s LGBT+ advisory panel over delays in banning conversion therapy.

These confrontations have made her popular among the Tory right, and “it is her extraordinary Commons performances at the dispatch box and in select committees over the past three years – holding the line against the ID politics warriors of the left and those in her own party who decided they couldn’t beat them so might as well join them instead – that have given her the springboard to enter the current leadership contest despite only having been an MP for five years”, said O’Flynn.

She was one of the first MPs to throw their hat in the ring for the leadership, just two days after quitting as a junior minister last week in an attempt to force out Boris Johnson.

Chances of winning

While the odds of her reaching the final top-two run-off remain slim she is seen as “a rising star” of the party, said The Telegraph.

Setting out her pitch for leadership in an article in The Times, she took aim at the “cultural establishment” and identity politics while defending free speech and pledging to return the Tories to a party of smaller government and lower taxes, plus an iron-clad commitment to Brexit.

Little known outside Westminster, she has surprised pundits by picking up a number of endorsements, including the high-profile and highly sought backing of Gove.

The former levelling up secretary, who was sacked by Boris Johnson on his final night in Downing Street before he announced he would stand down, shocked Westminster when he threw his weight behind Badenoch.

Writing in The Sun, Gove praised her “no bulls**t” approach and said her “focus” and “intellect” meant she was the right person for the job.

“Kemi knows every penny counts because she’s worked her way up the hard way. She paid her way through university by working at McDonald’s – flipping burgers and cleaning loos,” he said.

Politico has reported, however, that “rivals speculated whether the surprise backing from Gove could be tactical, either to help split the hard Brexiteer vote or to avoid backing Sunak from the start and look like [Johnson] was right about him being a snake”.

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/conservative-party/957319/kemi-badenoch-profile