Kemi Badenoch has been elected as the new leader of the Conservative party, voted in by party leaders following a four-month race after former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s resignation. It’s a historic posting – Kemi is the first-ever Black leader of the Conservative party, winning with 53,806 votes to fellow MP Robert Jenrick’s 41,388.
“It is the most enormous honour to be elected to this role, to lead the party that I love, the party that has given me so much. I hope I will be able to repay that debt,” she said.
Kemi originally ran for Conservative leadership back in 2022, following Boris Johnson’s resignation. As the MP for North West Essex, she has also previously held the roles of Minister for Women and Equalities and Secretary of State for Business and Trade – often making headlines for her controversial comments on trans rights, race and maternity pay. As the leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch will choose a shadow cabinet, each of whom will challenge and question their counterparts in government.
Here, GLAMOUR breaks down Kemi’s voting history and comments on the issues that really matter to women – from reproductive healthcare to violence against women and girls (VAWG), image-based abuse and more.
Online safety and image-based abuse
Image-based abuse – a broad term covering a range of harmful actions involving nude or sexual images – is overwhelmingly committed against women and girls. Kemi has not explicitly commented on the topic of image-based abuse, but did spark headlines when she criticised an early iteration of the Online Safety Bill in 2022. She tweeted: “The bill is in no fit state to become law. If I’m elected Prime Minister I will ensure the bill doesn’t overreach. We should not be legislating for hurt feelings.”
Abortion access
Kemi Badenoch has generally voted to keep obstacles in place for those seeking access to abortions. In 2022, Kemi voted against introducing buffer zones around abortion clinics and hospitals, in order to limit harassment of women seeking to access reproductive healthcare. That law came into force under the Labour government in October 2024.
She voted against the government’s ‘pills by post’ scheme in 2022, but she did vote in favour of the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021 – to address gaps in abortion services in Northern Ireland.
Maternity pay
Kemi’s comments on maternity pay sparked backlash during her leadership campaign earlier this year, when she said at the Conservative party conference: “Maternity pay varies, depending on who you work for. But statutory maternity pay is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working. We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive… Businesses are closing, businesses are not starting in the UK, because they say that the burden of regulation is too high.”
She added: “We need to have more personal responsibility. There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies.” Kemi later said that she did not think maternity pay “needs changing at all” – and that her statements were “misrepresented”.
LGBTQIA+ rights
Kemi has abstained on voting on LGBTQIA+ issues during her parliamentary career – choosing not to vote on same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland in 2019.