A British 鈥榗ulture warrior鈥�? Kemi Badenoch sets Conservatives on populist path.
| Manchester, England
Many politicians would shrink from the task that lies ahead of the United Kingdom鈥檚 Conservative Party: bouncing back from a historic defeat in the country鈥檚 July 2024 general election.
But Kemi Badenoch, the Tories鈥� newly elected leader, is unafraid of a fight.
The first Black woman to lead a major British political party, Ms. Badenoch is known for a straight-talking, no-nonsense approach that sometimes strays into the combative.
Why We Wrote This
After a record defeat in Britain's last parliamentary election, many Conservatives decided that they needed to be more populist and right-wing. Their selection of Kemi Badenoch as party leader locks in that agenda.
Many Conservatives hope that her energy, as well as her staunch 鈥渁nti-woke鈥� platform, will rejuvenate the party鈥檚 flagging political fortunes 鈥� out of power for the first time in 14 years, with a record-low number of seats in Parliament.
Yet others fear that her uncompromising, often Trumpian approach will pull the party further to the right, deepening divides and alienating the centrist voters whom the party hopes to recapture.
A staunchly right-wing worldview
Ms. Badenoch was born in London but grew up in an affluent family in the Nigerian city of Lagos. She lived there until she was 16, when her parents sent her to the U.K. to avoid the increasingly unstable political situation at home. As a teenager, Ms. Badenoch worked at McDonald鈥檚 to fund her studies, which earned her a degree in computer systems engineering at the University of Sussex.
Ms. Badenoch has described these experiences as the bedrock of her political worldview 鈥� one which is staunchly right-wing. In an interview with the Daily Mail, she described Nigeria as a country where she 鈥渘ever felt safe,鈥� feeding her appreciation for order and security in the U.K.
The politician says her time at college 鈥� surrounded by those she described as 鈥渟tupid, lefty white kids鈥� 鈥� also fed her conservative views. 鈥淧eople often ask what made me a Conservative and there was no one thing,鈥� she told The Times of London in one interview. 鈥淏ut part of it was being at Sussex among snotty, middle-class north Londoners.鈥�
Today, Ms. Badenoch is well-known for her vocal stance on what her supporters call 鈥渃ulture war鈥� causes. She has criticized the Black Lives Matter movement, opposed letting people self-identify as transgender, and said that 鈥渘ot all cultures are equally valid鈥� when it comes to deciding who should be allowed into the U.K.
Those positions have fired up hopes among Tories that Ms. Badenoch will win back voters who abandoned the Conservative Party in favor of the populist Reform UK, which enjoyed unprecedented success at the general election by running on an anti-immigration platform.
Others believe that Ms. Badenoch鈥檚 bluntness will also play well with voters who are tired of politicians trotting out vague platitudes.
鈥淚 think [Ms. Badenoch] is really good at getting her message across in a clear, coherent, and meaningful way,鈥� says Gareth Lyon, a Conservative local councilor in Rushmoor, in southern England, who voted for Ms. Badenoch in the party members鈥� leadership vote. He says that since Ms. Badenoch鈥檚 election, a surge of new members have joined his local party branch.
鈥淪he actually reminds me of Ronald Reagan,鈥� says Mr. Lyon. 鈥淪omething about her is inspiring. Reagan was able to build a coalition, not by pandering, not by trying to make everyone happy, but by starting from what he believed in. That鈥檚 what I鈥檝e seen in Kemi.鈥�
This straight-talking approach could backfire. The 鈥渃ulture war鈥� issues that have earned Ms. Badenoch admiration from some voters are bound to alienate others. She is expected to take the party鈥檚 policies firmly to the right, a move which could put off more moderate Conservative voters.
But for now, it is a risk that the Conservative Party is willing to take.
Overcoming 鈥渋mmorality and incompetence鈥�
Much will depend on Ms. Badenoch鈥檚 next steps. Her leadership bid did not reveal concrete policies, but rather self-described 鈥渃ore principles,鈥� such as personal responsibility, family, and truth.
As a result, Ms. Badenoch has a largely blank slate on which to work. She remains mostly unfamiliar to the electorate: Polling by YouGov in the run-up to the leadership vote found that 43% of Britons simply didn鈥檛 know how they felt about her.
Ms. Badenoch may be 鈥渟traight-talking鈥� 鈥� but her impact on the electorate will still depend on the issues and policies she chooses to champion, says Ben Worthy, a lecturer in politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. While Ms. Badenoch has built her reputation on 鈥渁nti-woke鈥� issues, topics such as trans rights have little traction with voters, he says.
鈥淚t could be that she鈥檚 going to be 鈥榮traight-talking鈥� on immigration; there is a segment of voters who are very interested in immigration,鈥� says Dr. Worthy. 鈥淏ut most of these voters are already Conservatives.鈥�
To win back voters, Ms. Badenoch will need to both diagnose and remedy what led the Conservatives to implode at the last general election.
Polling shows that two events in particular damaged the Conservative Party鈥檚 reputation, says Dr. Worthy: the Partygate scandal, when then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a Downing Street Christmas get-together in violation of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, and the tenure of Liz Truss, a prime minister best known for unpopular economic policies and being compared to a lettuce.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a mixture of immorality and incompetence,鈥� says Dr. Worthy.
Her strong moral stances may position Ms. Badenoch well to tackle at least some of these problems. But the road ahead is likely to be long. With just 121 members of Parliament compared with 411 from the ruling Labour Party, the Conservative Party is extremely unlikely to be able to reverse its fortunes in a single term.
Under these circumstances, consistency will be key, rather than simple answers or even fiery rhetoric. Ms. Badenoch must be able to unite rather than divide in a British political scene that is still fractured and unstable. The Conservative Party itself has burned through six leaders in less than a decade.
For now, it is a challenge that Ms. Badenoch鈥檚 supporters believe she is more than capable of meeting.
鈥淚f you try and be all things to all people, it might work for a short period of time,鈥� says Mr. Lyon. 鈥淏ut people will end up treating you with contempt because you鈥檒l be neither hot or cold, but lukewarm and good for nothing.鈥�
