British Politician With Kenyan Mother Aiming To Replace Boris Johnson

Johnson said he will stay in office until the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, who will then take over as prime minister.

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Jul 7, 2022 - 15:15
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has officially announced his resignation on Thursday, July 7 after his government officials embarked on a mass exodus, and a little-known name has emerged to succeed him.

UK Attorney General, Suella Braverman has emerged as one of the possible candidates to succeed Johnson, who has held the position since 2019. The major coincidence is that her mother happens to be from Kenya.

Braverman is a British politician and barrister who has been the Attorney General for England and Wales since 2020. She has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Fareham since 2015. 

UK Attorney General Suella Braverman at No. 10 Downing Street in London, United Kingdom. /GETTY IMAGES

A member of the Conservative Party, she chaired the European Research Group (ERG) from June 19, 2017, to January 9, 2018. She was granted 'QC' after her appointment as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland in February 2020, having not "taken silk" beforehand nor had enough experience to seek such appointment, in common with other Attorneys-General who were appointed Queen’s Counsel as a courtesy to their role.

Braverman was born to Christie and Uma Fernandes, of Indian origin, who had moved to Britain in the 1960s from Kenya and Mauritius. Her mother was a nurse and a councillor in Brent and her father, of Goan ancestry in South India, worked for a housing association.

She was born in Harrow, Greater London, and grew up in Wembley. She attended the Uxendon Manor Primary School in Brent and the fee-paying Heathfield School, Pinner, on a partial scholarship, after which she studied law at Queens' College, Cambridge.

During her undergraduate studies, she chaired the Cambridge University Conservative Association and had lived in France for two years, as an Erasmus Programme student and then as an Entente Cordiale Scholar, where she completed a master's degree in European and French law at Pantheon-Sorbonne University.

Called to the Bar in 2005, Suella specialised in public law and judicial review. From 2010-2015 she was on the Attorney General’s Panel of Treasury Counsel.

She has defended the Home Office in immigration cases, the Parole Board in challenges by prisoners and the Ministry of Defence in matters relating to injuries sustained in battle.

Braverman was appointed Attorney General on February 13, 2020. She had previously served as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union from January to November 2018.

She was beforehand elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Fareham in May 2015.

Speaking on Thursday, July 7 during an interview, Braverman maintained that she will not step down from the government but wants to take Johnson's place as Prime Minister after he gave a speech regarding his resignation.

"If there is a leadership contest, I will put my name. I love this country, my parents came here with absolutely nothing, and it is the Britons that gave them hope.

"And to serve as the Prime Minister will be the greatest honour," she told the Guardian.

In a BBC Radio 4 interview, she argued that she has changed from her previous allegiance to Johnson, arguing that the recent changes have made his position considerably under threat.

Johnson said he will stay in office until the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, who will then take over as prime minister.

"Of course, it is painful to not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects. But as we have seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves," Johnson said in front of the door of No. 10 Downing Street in London, as loud crowds could be heard nearby

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes a resignation speech outside 10 Downing St. in London on Thursday. /NPR

Braverman's bid for the top seat in the UK and Johnson's resignation announcement through a speech came after Kenya suffered a huge blow following the resignation of Stafford Member of Parliament, Theo Clarke, who was the UK's trade envoy to Kenya.

Another headline resignation was British Finance Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, whose father was born in Kenya and his mother hailed from Tanzania. Andrew Murrison and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid were the other two resignations.