Nikki Haley: Pro-life ex-Tea Party star who challenged Donald Trump's rhetoric becomes his first female appointment

In a cabinet which is largely pale and male, Nikki Haley signals a clear break with Donald Trump’s other appointments. The Governor of South Carolina, who is of Indian descent, has been selected to become ambassador to the United Nations, making her the first woman to be appointed to his cabinet-in-waiting.

Another key difference between Ms Haley and her colleagues is her rocky history with the President-elect. Not only did she support his rival Marco Rubio in the primaries but she had a number of disagreements with Mr Trump.

Ms Haley, who won the election to the governor's post as part of the Tea Party surge in 2010, previously urged the party to reject the “angriest voices”. It was a statement widely perceived as being directed at the controversial property magnate.

Mr Trump has also made his feelings about her known, once tweeting: ”The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley!” She responded to his tweet and a number of his other attacks with the quintessentially Southern American response: “Bless your heart”.

But who is the governor who once claimed she "sharpens" her high-heeled shoes for the “blood sport” of South Carolina politics that will soon take on the high-profile role of US ambassador to the UN?

Born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa in South Carolina in 1972, she was brought up in an Indian Sikh family. Her parents are immigrants from Punjab in India and she was nicknamed Nikki which means “little one” by her family members.

Like Margaret Thatcher, she was also a shopkeeper's daughter and The Economist believes this similarity holds some significance, saying it has instilled in her an aversion to the hand of state intervention.

Back in 2015, she was one of a number of governors who asked the State Department not to resettle Syrian refugees in their states because of security concerns. She suggested there was a “lack of historical and verifiable intelligence” on their identities.

Nevertheless, governors do not hold the legislative power to prevent the resettlement and South Carolina is currently home to several dozen refugees from Syria. She was also against President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law Obama-care.

Ms Haley was not always so sure about Mr Trump. In the past she condemned his rhetoric, saying: “Mr Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk.”

He responded by dubbing her “weak” on immigration. “She’s very, very weak on illegal immigration,” he said at the time. “She’s very, very weak on illegal immigration. You can’t have that.”

A month later, she rebuked him for not condemning white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. “The KKK came to South Carolina from out of state to protest on our Statehouse grounds,” she said at a rally in Georgia. “I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK. That is not a part of our party. That is not who we are.”

She was critical of his proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims coming into America entering the United States, which she called “un-American" and "unconstitutional".

However, the pair both appear to have somewhat changed their tune, as the appointment demonstrates. Last week she met with him and heralded their friendship to reporters afterwards.

“He was a friend and supporter before he ran for president, and was kind to me then. But when I see something I am uncomfortable with, I say it,” she said. “When we met, it was friends who had known each other before.”

Although she did of course vote for Mr Trump, she previously declared she was “not a fan” of either him or Hillary Clinton.

The role Ms Haley will be undertaking calls for carefully tuned diplomatic skills and fastidious knowledge of foreign policy. Unlike the current UN ambassador who happens to be a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, ex-White House advisor, Harvard academic and foreign war correspondent, Ms Haley has never had a position in federal government and has no immediately obvious in-depth foreign policy experience. On the contrary, she has worked on trade and labor issues.

Although what is more clear is that her opinions on various US military and national security matters are reported to be in line with the Republican party’s mainstream. Unlike Mr Trump, who has been famed for making controversial off-the-cuff statements, Ms Haley has been described as the establishment’s choice to signify a sensible, measured side of the Republican party.

She is pro-life and has a consistent history of supporting bills to curb abortion rights - apart from when a mother’s life is at risk. She is married to a National Guardsman who has served in Afghanistan, who she has two teenage children with, and is a Christian despite being brought up as a sikh.