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Nigerian Kemi Badenoch launches bid for UK’s PM

Former Equalities Minister, Nigerian-born Kemi Badenoch, has put herself forward as a candidate to become the next United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister, promising “limited government” and “a focus on the essentials.”

The MP for Saffron Walden said she supported lower taxes “to boost growth and productivity, and accompanied by tight spending discipline.”

Writing in The Times, she also hit out at “identity politics” and said Boris Johnson was “a symptom of the problems we face, not the cause of them.

“People are exhausted by platitudes and empty rhetoric. Loving our country, our people, or our party is not enough,” she said.

“What’s missing is an intellectual grasp of what is required to run the country in an era of increased polarization, protectionism, and populism amplified by social media.”

She said governing Britain today requires “a nimble center-right vision” that “can achieve things despite entrenched opposition from a cultural establishment that will not accept that the world has moved on from Blairism.”

Badenoch’s declaration capped off a day that saw many Tories declaring allegiances in the leadership race.

Rishi Sunak declared his much-anticipated intention to run, enjoying public backing from Commons Leader Mark Spencer, former Tory Party co-chairman Oliver Dowden, former chief whip Mark Harper, ex-ministers Liam Fox, and Andrew Murrison, and MPs Sir Bob Neill and Paul Maynard.

Kemi Badenoch’s recollection of her childhood in Nigeria brings tears to her eyes. It is only five months since the death of her father, Femi Adegoke, from a brain tumor.

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