Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, recently explained (in an interview for the BBC series Political Thinking) that she doesn’t wish to be defined by her religion any more than by her ethnicity (she’s from Nigeria). She had already explained why she isn’t a Christian – interestingly, it was the problem of evil, expressed in the case of the frightful Josef Fritzl, that caused her loss of faith – but she has attracted rather less attention for a speech last month in which she explained the influence that Christianity has had on her. In the Wilberforce Lecture last month (November), which Conservative leaders have given in memory of the great campaigner for the abolition of slavery, she outlined the ways in which the faith has affected her politics. It turns out that it is much the same aspects – of self-reliance, care for family and community, and paying debts – which appeal to her as appealed to Margaret Thatcher.