Kemi Badenoch On Her Love For The Adult Harley Quinn

Posted in: Avengers, Batman, BBC, Comics, DC Comics, DC Universe, Marvel Studios, Movies, Pop Culture, streaming, TV | Tagged: harley quinn, Kemi Badenoch, Newscast

Kemi Badenoch On Her Love For The Adult Harley Quinn

Kemi Badenoch, Leader Of The Opposition and the Conservative Party, on her love for the adult version of Harley Quinn

Published Fri, 30 Oct 2026 09:27:23 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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Last updated Fri, 30 Oct 2026 09:38:44 -0500
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Article Summary

• Kemi Badenoch revealed on BBC Newscast that she is currently watching the adult animated DC series Harley Quinn.
• The Conservative leader said Harley Quinn suits her taste for sharp, sarcastic comedy like Archer and Arrested Development.
• Kemi Badenoch told Adam Fleming she rarely watches broadcast TV now, instead fitting in streaming around politics and family.
• The chat also revisited Kemi Badenoch’s geeky side, from Heroes and Slow Horses to Marvel and Doctor Strange.

Kemi Badenoch MP loves Harley Quinn. Did anyone see that coming? Kemi Badenoch is the current leader of the oldest political party in the world, the Conservative Party, and has the official UK Government constitutional position of the Leader Of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition in the House of Commons (though Leader Of The Opposition will usually do), where she goes up against Prime Minister Andy Burnham every Wednesday. And if the Conservatives win the next General Election, she will be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Bleeding Cool has catalogued her love of all things geeky, including the TV series Heroes and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially Doctor Strange, as well as someone finding her World of Warcraft listing. But on the BBC's Newscast yesterday, talking to Adam Fleming about why she hadn't gone on Gogglebox as Andy Burnham had recently, she said that she didn't watch broadcast television, and talked about her current love for the DC Animated Universe, especially Harley Quinn, much to Adam's surprise.

• Adam Fleming: "What have you been watching on streaming then?
• Kemi Badenoch: "The DC Animated Universe."
• Adam Fleming: "WHAT???"
• Kemi Badenoch: I've been watching Harley Quinn… One of the things that the job has done is that it has killed the time that my husband and I would sit and watch stuff together because we used to do our series and box sets."
• Adam Fleming: "I remember reminiscing about Heroes."
• Kemi Badenoch: "Heroes, Game of Thrones and I think we managed to get through Slow Horses, but there's just no time, so I end up just watching random stuff. I watch stuff with the kids now…
• Adam Fleming: "DC Animated Universe…"
• Kemi Badenoch: "Actually, that was just me watching."
• Adam Fleming: "Oh really?"
• Kemi Badenoch: "That wasn't the kids; the one I was watching is actually a 15."

Which means she is not watching Celebrity Traitors like everyone else.

• Kemi Badenoch: "So I see the others are watching it, and I kind of know two weeks later what's happened. We have more fun playing it than watching it. We do go around the table with friends… And it's very annoying as a politician. Everyone assumes, "Oh, you must be a traitor." So I don't last long in the game. It's my kids who go after me. They're the ones in particular. They're like, "It's mommy… She did it. You can see it in her eyes."
• Adam Fleming: So watching the DC Animated Universe, is that Superman, Justice League…?
• Kemi Badenoch: "Yes. It's one particular one: Harley Quinn. So I quite like humour in cartoons, you know, Archer. Do you remember the series, Archer? Did you ever?"
• Adam Fleming: "Yeah, I never really liked it but…
• Kemi Badenoch: "That's kind of my humour. There's a lot of sarcasm, you know, humour from things like Brooklyn 99 or Arrested Development, The Office. I like that sort of thing. No, I used to love Drop the Dead Donkey and things like that. It's that kind of humour, and I think cartoons do it more today."

I know she reads my cartoons. I should draw her more… and there was one further mention.

• Adam Fleming: "I remember when you first became leader and your approach to PMQs, for example, was quite sort of detaily-policy, a bit wonkish, and then you told me and Chris that you realised actually it was a bit more of a pantomime. I think that's phase two. Is there a phase three?"
• Kemi Badenoch: "Well, phase three is learning to…"
• Adam Fleming: "…to make it sound like the Marvel Cinematic Universe.."
• Kemi Badenoch: "No, no, I don't think politics can ever be the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's just my genre of sci-fi and, uh, you know, fantasy. That's my watching genre. But no, Phase Three is there's a new guy, and it does take time to work out what a new opponent is about."

I mean that sounds like Avengers: Doomsday to me…

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