Kemi Badenoch should be our next Prime Minister – she’s brave, principled and brilliant

GOVERNING is hard. Leading is difficult. Reform takes guts.

I’ve worked for three prime ministers in six different Cabinet roles.

I’ve seen up close what leadership demands and I’ve been in the thick of battles to drive change.

When I was Education Secretary we had to tackle vested interests, set higher standards and embark on a moral mission of liberating every child’s potential – in the teeth of fierce opposition.

So I know what is required to make Government work and ensure the state supports the most disadvantaged.

That is why I have no hesitation in saying our next PM should be Kemi Badenoch.

I’ve worked with Kemi since before she became an MP and served alongside her in Government. She is brave, principled, brilliant and kind.

She led on the Government’s response to Tony Sewell’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic disparities.

The Commission’s report had provoked controversy.

But Kemi didn’t flinch. She came up with concrete measures to remove barriers to opportunity while taking on the mumbo jumbo peddled by left wing culture warriors that only deepen division and foster zero sum identity politics.

She dominated in the Commons chamber as only a minister both on top of her brief and fired by conviction can.

Kemi doesn’t just win the argument, she delivers – on getting the Whitehall machine to embark on new policies and on levelling up Britain.

Now she has the opportunity to use her first class brain to fix the big problems facing our country.

There is so much we need to fix. From processing passports and driving licences to defence procurement and science investment – we need someone with Kemi’s focus, intellect and no-bulls**t drive.

Kemi knows every penny counts because she’s worked her way up the hard way. She paid her way through university by working at MacDonald’s – flipping burgers and cleaning loos.

As a Tory leader, she would be Sir Keir Starmer’s worst nightmare.

She makes the case for Conservativism with unanswerable intellectual authority and personal passion.

As I reflect on what it takes to deliver in Government – on the mistakes I’ve made, the lessons I’ve learned, the progress I helped secure – I know one thing is true above all. If you want to drive change, empower the right people. Kemi Badenoch has the Right Stuff.