Kemi Badenoch’s tale of being offered a place at Stanford University when she was 16 has been completely unravelled …by Stanford
One of Kemi Badenoch’s self-aggrandising personal anecdotes has started to crumble under scrutiny. After claiming she was so smart that Stanford reached out to offer her a partial scholarship for a medical or pre-med course at the age of 16, the prestigious university has rubbished the entire scenario.
The Guardian’s Jessica Elgot broke the story.
Doubts cast on Kemi Badenoch’s claim of US medical school offerhttps://t.co/7YLtKsyBOP
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) August 31, 2025
As outlined in the article, there are a number of problems with her claim –
Only graduates are offered the medical course, and they simply don’t run a pre-med one.
They wouldn’t have offered any course based purely on exam results – as she has claimed – and especially not based on O-Levels.
They didn’t offer partial scholarships – it was either a full one or nothing.
They didn’t offer a scholarship to anyone from Nigeria at that time – although students from other African countries received that honour.
In short, the thing she claimed happened – well, didn’t. The internet wasn’t about to keep quiet.
1.
Looks like actual serious deepdive journalism has commenced on Kemi Badenoch's youth in Nigeria. And the lies are swiftly unravelling, exactly as we warned.
Her claim she was "offered a scholarship to study medicine at Stanford when she was 16": LIE. https://t.co/xbojo77Zmu pic.twitter.com/k5Ozw6KzVA
— Nels Abbey (@nelsabbey) August 31, 2025
2.
Walter Shittyhttps://t.co/Q6VCDJIuTB
— 〓〓 (@GavinCurnow) August 31, 2025
3.
I called out Badenoch for a straight up lie in her interview with Nick Robinson during the leadership contest. As if she was offered anything in medicine let alone a scholarship to Stanford. And a prodigy at 16?! Totally delulu. pic.twitter.com/fYJqzXZTVx
— Fiona-Natasha Syms (@fifisyms) August 31, 2025
4.
Kemi: I was offered a partial scholarship to study medicine at Stanford University in California.
Stafford University: We never did, and the scenario she described is impossible because we only offer that course to graduates at the uni, not international students.
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) August 31, 2025
5.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch lying about her achievements surely not ??! pic.twitter.com/FcJDpaGmya
— ((( Jenks ))) (@BrianNights01) August 31, 2025
6.
Why the fuck would she lie about this. Why is she claiming she got into Stanford at age 16. Why is she claiming that she didn't apply but they thought she was so brilliant they offered her a place. She got BBD at A-level, she was lucky to even get into Sussex. https://t.co/DrnNo1EfGT pic.twitter.com/C58AaiRuyU
— Becky Paton (@rpaton11) August 31, 2025
7.
sounds to me like those teachers estimated her just fine. https://t.co/5NJ4kVFEG0 pic.twitter.com/d9ffRVlwgF
— S. I. Rubinstein (@si_rubinstein) August 31, 2025
8.
Hey @KemiBadenoch how about leave the medical knowledge to those of us who did get to medical school ️⚧️
Kemi Badenoch | The Guardian https://t.co/SgREZbICzx
— Dr Helen Webberley (she/her) (@HelenWebberley) August 31, 2025
9.
If someone lies about something as pointless as this, for no particular reason then it’s impossible to trust them for things that are actually important.
— Toddy (@toddler78) August 31, 2025
10.
there's no one left in the Tory Party that isn't a weapons grade bullshit artist so this comes as little surprise. https://t.co/3ZAEvCEsz8
— bat020 (@bat020) August 31, 2025
11.
Surely the real story is that the LOTO is so demonstrably thick that as soon as such a claim is made, it immediately seems worth digging into further?
— Meter Pannion (@meterpannion) August 31, 2025
12.
Ahem… pic.twitter.com/g7h8eHt21v
— David (@Zero_4) August 31, 2025
13.
Oh dear…surely Kemi Badenoch wouldn't lie about being a 16 year old medical prodigy? After all, a claim like that is so easy to disprove…? https://t.co/gmwTopFAXR
— Liz McInnes (@LizMcInnes60) August 31, 2025
14.
There's something very funny about the fact that Kemi, someone who is ostensibly not remotely bright, and famously very lazy, claiming that she could've studied medicine at Stanford… Like, she's so stupid she thinks she's not even going to be called out for lying lol… https://t.co/mGC3xyUjLp
— Charlie (@GrnCharlie) September 1, 2025
15.
YES BUT RAYNER BOUGHT A HOUSE https://t.co/YDdKMIrqSQ
— Jake (@ToryWipeout) August 31, 2025
Perhaps she needed to show a little more ambition.
Kemi Badenoch should just have gone for it and said NASA wanted me. In for a penny, in for a pound.
— Mhairi Hunter (@MhairiHunter) August 31, 2025
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Source Guardian Image Wikimedia Commons, Pexels
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