The candidate has a far greater measure of a key political quality than her rivals James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick.

Kemi Badenoch has claimed young Conservatives are marked down at university because of their personal politics. Speaking at the end of the annual Tory conference, the leadership candidate told party delegates that the younger generation are “afraid to share their politics” out of fear their peers will attack them or lecturers will mark them down.

Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat are the final candidates for the Tory top spot. Although the race was announced on 5 July, the leader will not be revealed until early November – although two candidates have called for the timeframe to be cut down.

Kemi Badenoch put her faltering leadership campaign back on track with a powerful speech to end the Tory conference.

Kemi Badenoch has been running her leadership campaign from the home of a wealthy Tory donor, it has been revealed.

Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida and former Republican presidential hopeful, has backed Kemi Badenoch in the race to become the next Tory leader. He declares that she “flies the flag of bold colours” of conservatism and praised her for being “strong” and “courageous”.