Kemi Badenoch wins North West Essex seat for the Conservatives
Kemi Badenoch remains an MP (Tejas Sandhu/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Kemi Badenoch has won the seat in North West Essex amid the Tory wipeout by Labour.
Badenoch, who has been the women and equalities minister since October 2022, received 19,360 votes in the North West Essex seat with a majority of 2,610.
She was previously the Tory MP for Saffron Walden, which she won with 39,714 votes in 2019.
During her time as equalities minister Badenoch has been a controversial figure for her relationship with the LGBTQ+ community, notably having met with LGB Alliance, described trans women as “men” in a leaked recording, failed to bring in a conversion therapy ban and sought information about changing the definition of ‘sex’ in the Equality Act.
In recent weeks, Badenoch has been in a public beefing match with David Tennant.
The Doctor Who star hit out at Badenoch during a speech at the LGBT+ Awards: “Until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist anymore – I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up – whilst we do live in this world, I am honoured to receive (this award).”
In response, Badenoch took to social media to hit out at the actor and trans ally.
“I will not shut up,” she wrote.
“I will not be silenced by men who prioritise applause from Stonewall over the safety of women and girls,” before she accused Tennant of being a “rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can’t see the optics of attacking the only black woman in government by calling publicly for my existence to end”.
But she didn’t stop there, she continued, hitting out at Labour, which Tennant supports, saying that “this is an early example of what life will be like if they win”.
