Kemi Badenoch

Birth Name: Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke

Place of Birth: Merton, Surrey, England, U.K.

Date of Birth: 2 January, 1980

Ethnicity: Yoruba Nigerian

Kemi Badenoch is a British politician. She has been Leader of the Conservative Party, and thus Leader of the Opposition, since 2 November, 2024. She has also been Secretary of State for International Trade, from 6 September, 2022 to 7 February, 2023, President of the Board of Trade, from 6 September, 2022 to 5 July, 2024, Minister for Women and Equalities, from 25 October, 2022 to 5 July, 2024, and Secretary of State for Business and Trade, from 7 February, 2023 to 5 July, 2024; as well as, a Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden, from 8 June, 2017 to 30 May, 2024, and for North West Essex, since 4 July, 2024.

Kemi is the daughter of Feyi, a professor of physiology, and Femi Adegoke, a GP. Her parents are Nigerian Yoruba immigrants. She was partly raised in Lagos, Nigera, and the U.S., while her mother lectured there. Kemi returned to the U.K. at sixteen.

She is married to Hamish Badenoch, who works for Deutsche Bank, and has also been a politician. The couple has three children. Hamish is white, with roots in Ireland and Scotland. The name Badenoch is Scottish. It is now Badenoch and Strathspey, an area of Highland Council, in Scotland.

Kemi’s maternal grandfather was surnamed Adubifa. He was a Methodist minister in Nigeria.