Kemi Badenoch is set to be announced as new UK finance minister Rishi Sunak, according to multiple media sources in London,.
Kemi Olufunto Badenoch, who ran against Mr Sunak in the summer, is seen as a rising star in the party and could land a major position, such as finance minister.
Born in Wimbledon, London, to Nigerian parents, Badenoch spent parts of her childhood in Lagos, Nigeria 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 nee Adegoke, later pursued a career in banking, working for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and COUTTS.
In July 2019, Badenoch was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. In February 2020, Badenoch was appointed Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities) in the Department for International Trade. She has been a member of the Public Accounts Committee since March 2020.
Another name set to be announced as member of the cabinet is Penny Mordaunt, who bowed out of the race to hand Mr Sunak the PM role, is expected to get some kind of promotion — with some speculating that she could replace Mr Cleverly as foreign secretary.