Navigating Race and Identity in Politics

Season seven is almost upon us and we’ll be starting with an epic two-parter on Thatcherism, so consider this bonus episode a warm-up. We’re unravelling the unusual story of Kemi Badenoch and what her vexed leadership says about the state of the Conservative Party.

As soon as Badenoch became an MP in 2017, she was tipped for big things: a black woman with a compelling backstory, a Thatcherite heart and a strong stomach for culture wars. But the messiness of her victory in last year’s leadership race illuminated MPs’ growing ambivalence about her, and her subsequent performance has only amplified those doubts. Even her allies admit that her weaknesses are more visible than her strengths. As she fights to win back right-wing voters from Reform while disdaining the moderates lost to Labour and the Liberal Democrats, are her days numbered?

We start by examining Badenoch’s upbringing under military dictatorship in Nigeria, and the confusing stories she tells about it. She moves to London at the age of 16 and, after a rocky start, becomes a computer engineer. At 25, she joins the Conservative Party. At 30, she’s fighting her first election (unsuccessfully). We follow her through Coutts bank, The Spectator and the London Assembly to Westminster, where she acquires a mixed reputation. Diligent and nuanced in some areas, stubborn and lazy in others. Willing to stand up to the Brexit hardliners yet increasingly radicalised on cultural issues. Some Tory MPs hail her as the future of the right while others mutter that she is arrogant, bullying and unfriendly. And she does say some very odd things.

How did Nigeria shape Badenoch’s politics? When did she start talking like a right-wing podcast? Are her prejudices more powerful than her values? Can she really revive the Tory Party or simply drive it further down a hard right cul-de-sac? Why did Michael Gove lose faith in his protégé? And if Badenoch is trying to follow Margaret Thatcher’s playbook, does her copy have half the pages missing? The story is stranger than you think.

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Reading list

Articles

• Aubrey Allegretti and Nicola Woolcock, ‘Kemi Badenoch: “epidemic” of children being told they’re trans’ (2023)

• Richard Assheton, ‘Nigeria roots for Kemi Badenoch’s fighting spirit’ (2022)

• Kemi Badenoch, maiden speech in the House of Commons (2017)

• Kemi Badenoch, ‘I want to set us free by telling people the truth’, The Times (2022)

• Kemi Badenoch, ‘Gagging of the brave has let gender ideologues seize control’, Sunday Times (2024)

• Katy Balls and Michael Gove, ‘“I will die protecting this country’: Kemi Badenoch on where she plans to take the Tories’, The Spectator (2024)

• Conservative Home, ‘Speech of the year: Kemi Badenoch on critical race theory’, Conservative Home (2020)

• Rachel Cunliffe, ‘How Kemi Badenoch became the Tory front runner’, The New Statesman (2024)

• Annabelle Dickson, ‘Kemi Badenoch: The Conservative Party’s next leader but one?’, Politico (2022)

• Joe Murphy, ‘Kemi Badenoch: New vice chairman of the Conservatives talks about her fight to recruit a more diverse range of MPs’, Evening Standard (2018)

• Parliament Square, ‘Questioning “Kemi”’s Comments’, The Critic (2024)

Radio and podcasts

• Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, Radio 4 (2020)

• Kemi Badenoch’s Commons speech on Critical Race Theory (2020)

• Profile, Radio 4 (2022)

• Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, Radio 4 (2024)

• Honestly with Bari Weiss: Is Kemi Badenoch the Next Margaret Thatcher? (2024)

• Triggernometry with Kemi Badenoch (2025)

Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Produced by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production

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