The United Kingdom Prime Minister, Liz Truss, appointed British-Nigerian Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch as a member of her cabinet on Tuesday.
What happened earlier: Pulse recalls that Badenoch had vied for the office of the British PM as a member of the Conservative Party and made it to the top five in July, 2022.
Badenoch's history in politics: Badenoch entered the Commons as a Member of Parliament, MP, for Saffron Walden in 2017.
She has also been outspoken on issues such as "gender-neutral toilets and anti-woke”. Also a former Equalities Minister launched her bid to become the next United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister, promising “limited government” and “a focus on the essentials.”
Why Badenoch's appointment is a win for Nigeria: Following Truss’s appointments so far, it would be the first time in UK history that the leading cabinet lieutenants of Britain’s Prime Minister had no white occupying any of the “great offices of state” – Treasury, Foreign Office, and Home Affairs.
Reacting to her appointment via Twitter, Badenoch said "Delighted to start my new job at @tradegovuk! Looking forward to unleashing Global Britain's full potential so we can create more jobs, more growth and more opportunity across the UK"
About Kemi Badenoch: Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch is a British politician serving as the Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade since 2022. She previously served as Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities and Minister of State for Equalities from 2021 to 2022.
Born in Wimbledon, London, to Nigerian parents, Badenoch spent parts of her childhood in Lagos and the United States before returning to the United Kingdom at 16. After graduating from the University of Sussex, she was a software engineer at Logica before studying law at Birkbeck, University of London. Badenoch later pursued a career in banking, working for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Coutts.