Kemi Badenoch has won the Conservative leadership contest with 56.6% of the vote, beating out rival Robert Jenrick.
The results of the members ballot:
- Kemi Badenoch 53,806 (56.6%)
- Robert Jenrick 41,318 (43.4%)
Badenoch was the favourite from the very start of the contest, with a poll of Tory party members from late July putting her as first choice of the initial 6 candidates.
Badenoch served as Business Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities under Rishi Sunak, and resigned from Boris Johnson’s government shortly before his resignation in July 2022.
Her task now will be to rebuild the Conservative party after years of scandal and division, which culminated in their worst ever electoral defeat. With just 121 MPs left in the Commons, and the threat of Reform UK still ever present, Badenoch will aim to unite the right of British politics, and rebuild trust in the Conservatives as a whole.
It provides the party with a clean slate from their 14 year period in government, and Badenoch will be eager to distance the Tories from the legacy of Sunak, Truss, Johnson and co. The scale of the task is certainly daunting, given Labour’s huge majority in parliament, and the relative disunity within the Tory party between One-Nation moderates, and the right-wing.
Both of the final 2 candidates were seen as titans of the Tory right, although Jenrick was formerly seen as a centrist figure prior to his time as immigration minister.
In her acceptance speech, Badenoch said it was an “enormous honour” to be elected as party leader. She paid tribute to Robert Jenrick, who she said led a “great campaign” full of energy and determination.
“You and I know that we don’t actually disagree on very much and I have no doubt that you have a key part to play in our party for many years to come”
Finishing her speech, she pledged to hold Labour to account and prepare the Tory party for government.
“The time has come to tell the truth, to stand up for our principles, to plan for our future, to reset our politics and our thinking, and to give our party and our country the new start that they deserve”
During her leadership campaign, Badenoch aimed to speak about principles rather than policy; which drew criticism from Jenrick and his supporters. Those principles she has sought to emphasise are freedom, family, and personal responsibility.
She was an outspoken critic of the last Tory government, which she said “talked right and yet governed left”, leaving the public feeling confused and “manipulated”. Her campaign focused on renewing the party for 2030, as this is the first full year that the Tories can be back in government.
It means Rishi Sunak’s time as leader has come to an end. He now returns to backbenches after serving as Chancellor, Prime Minister and briefly as Leader of the Opposition.
In reaction, Sunak said Badenoch would be a “superb leader” who will “renew our party, stand up for Conservative values, and take the fight to Labour”
Badenoch becomes the first Tory leader to be elected in opposition since 2005, when David Cameron took over after the party’s 3rd election defeat in a row. Badenoch will be hoping that it doesn’t take the Tories 3 election defeats to get back into Downing Street. She will be encouraged by polling from BMG research last night, which showed them ahead of Labour for the first time in 3 years on 29%, with Labour on 28%.
Keir Starmer personally is unpopular, but still seen as a better Prime Minister than either Jenrick or Badenoch, according to the latest YouGov poll.
Shortly after the announcement, Prime Minister Keir Starmer congratulated Badenoch on her victory, and hailed the first black leader of a Westminster party as a “proud moment for our country”.
Kemi Badenoch will now form her shadow cabinet in the coming days, and look to scrutinise an already unpopular Labour government. Prior to the result, both candidates said they would be willing to serve in their opponents shadow cabinet.
