General Election ones to watch: Newington’s focus on the rising stars across the political spectrum. This week, Newington's Rob Hamilton looks at Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative candidate for Saffron Walden.

Barring some unforeseen political cataclysm for the Government, on 8 June Kemi Badenoch will be returned as Conservative MP for Saffron Walden, having been gifted a majority of almost 33,000 by the retirement of Sir Alan Haselhurst.  

Young, a London Assembly Member is set to be a strong voice in the Conservative Party in future years.

Born in Wimbledon, Badenoch’s upbringing was international, taking in stints spent abroad in both Nigeria and America before returning to the UK as a teenager. She argued for a no vote in last year’s EU referendum, based ona clear belief that the UK had all the attributes to succeed on its own terms. Her attacks on “London’s elites” were a passionate wake-up call to work more closely with the rest of the country.

Her record in the London Assembly speaks to this, simultaneously celebrating London as the “most open and diverse city in the world” while attacking the flying of Hezbollah flags as “expressions of hatred and intolerance.” It is these attributes that likely won her the nomination in Saffron Walden, taken with her support for the traditional Conservative policies of low tax and light-touch regulation. This full-throated backing of Brexit and Conservative policies, combined with a commitment to diversity and tolerance, makes for a potentially potent rallying cry in the years ahead.

Her success beyond the political sphere speaks for itself. She worked her way up in the City; including at the Queen’s bank Coutts. More recently, she traded in the financial world for journalism, working as the Head of Digital at The Spectator. The magazine was unequivocal in its praise for her as a potential political star.

Badenoch’s main policy pursuits are likely to be centred on social mobility and education. She describes herself as “passionate” about education access, particularly for black and minority ethnic communities. She herself holds two degrees – the first in  engineering which was followed by a second  in law at the University of London, which she worked  to put herself through. Her reasons for this speak to her wider views on politics and the legislative process: “helping to make, shape and change our laws for the better.”