The ex-equality minister, who is on the party’s right, stands on a anti-wake and small government platform.
She told the crowd in Westminster that there are “always difficult choices in life and in” politics; no free lunches, no tax cuts without spending limits, no stronger defenses without a leaner state.”
The 42-year-old MP for Saffron Walden has the outspoken support of more than a dozen Tory colleagues, including Michael Gove who was fired by Boris Johnson shortly before he was forced to resign as minister.
What is her political background?
Born in Wimbledon, Mrs Badenoch lived in the US and Nigeria as a child before returning to the UK at the age of 16.
She has talked about working at McDonald’s while studying for her A-levels in Morden.
After graduating from the University of Sussex with a master’s degree in Computer Systems Engineering, she worked for companies such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, private bank coutts and Spectator magazine.
She joined the Conservative Party in 2005 at the age of 25.
Five years later, she was the Tory candidate in Dulwich and West Norwood, finishing third in the vote won by Labour’s Tessa Jowell.
In 2012, she stood for Conservatives in the London Assembly election.
The party won just three seats and Mrs Badenoch came fifth on the London list, behind Suella Braverman in fourth, meaning she was not elected.
In the 2015 general election, City Hall Tory Victoria Borwick was elected as an MP and resigned from the London Assembly.
Mrs Braverman, who is contesting Tory leadership alongside Mrs Badenoch, also won a seat in the House of Commons that same year and declined to fill the vacancy.
Ms Badenoch was therefore called upon to take the seat in City Hall in September 2015. She subsequently retained it in the 2016 London election.
She was the London Tory spokesperson for the economy and also sat on the Transport Committee and the Policing and Crime Committee.
In the 2017 election, she stood in the safe Conservative seat of Saffron Walden in Essex and was elected to parliament.
She has described herself as an example of the “British dream”, an “immigrant who came to the UK at age 16 and became a parliamentarian” in one generation.
Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher have been named as her personal heroes.
What government position does she currently hold?
Ms Badenoch is one of the few hopeful Tory leaders who has never held a cabinet-level job.
She resigned as Minister for Equal Opportunities and Secretary of the Department for Leveling Up on July 6, after losing confidence in Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.
Previously, she was Minister of Finance of the Treasury from February 2020 to September 2021 and Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Education from July 2019 to February 2020.
What was her position on Brexit?
Ms Badenoch was a supporter of Brexit.
In a rousing maiden speech to parliament, she described the referendum as “the biggest vote of confidence in the UK’s project ever”.
Her husband, a banker, Hamish, a former Merton Conservative councillor, was a staunch Remainer.
“We’ve had strong arguments, but respect each other’s opinions,” Ms Badenoch told the Independent in 2017.
controversies
Ms Badenoch was criticized for: journalist Nadine White publicly shamed last year.
The HuffPost reporter had asked the then office of the Equal Opportunities Minister for suggestions that Ms Badenoch had refused to participate in a video featuring black cross-party politicians who wanted to encourage the adoption of the Covid-19 vaccination.
Screenshots of Ms. White’s two emails were shared on Twitter by Ms. Badenoch, who called them “creepy and bizarre”.
Labor called for an investigation and Ms White said the MP’s actions set a dangerous precedent and threaten the role of a free press.
Ms. Badenoch has admitted to “hacking” Harriet Harman’s website in 2008 as part of a “silly joke”.
She had guessed the Labor MP’s password and then posted a fake blog claiming that the then minister for women and equality supported Boris Johnson in the London elections.
In 2018, she told Core Politics, “About 10 years ago I hacked into a Labor MP’s website and I changed all the stuff there to say nice things about Tories.”