Kemi Badenoch has won the race to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader in a tight contest that saw more than a quarter of Tory members not even cast a vote.
The former Cabinet minister scooped the Tory crown after a bitter four-month long contest in the wake of the party’s worst-ever election defeat. Ms Badenoch, 44, was picked by the same party members who inflicted Liz Truss on the country, over rival and ex-Home Office minister Robert Jenrick.
The right-wing duo were the surprise finalists after bookies’ favourite James Cleverly was eliminated by MPs in a major upset last month. The race was triggered when Mr Sunak resigned after suffering a historic defeat at the general election – losing 251 MPs and handing the keys to No10 to Keir Starmer.
A total of 131,680 Tory members were eligible electors and turnout was 72.8%. Ms Badenoch received 53,806 votes with Mr Jenrick getting 41,388. There were 655 rejected ballots. The result makes it the closest leadership contest ever put to the Tory membership.
In her victory address, speaking to a large round of applause in the room, the new Tory leader said: “We must be honest that we made mistakes, honest that we let standards slip.
“The time has come to tell the truth. The time has come to stand up for our principals, to reset our politics.
“It is time to get down to business – it is time to renew.”
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Commenting on the result, Richard Fuller CBE MP, Conservative Party Chairman, said: “On behalf of the whole Conservative Party I’d like to congratulate Kemi Badenoch on being elected as our new leader.
“Over the course of the leadership contest we have seen six strong, credible candidates who have spent their time travelling around the country meeting our excellent party members.
“I would like to thank all the candidates for their conduct and commitment during the leadership contest and the team at CCHQ for their hard work throughout.
“With Kemi Badenoch in place as our new leader now is the time for the whole Party to unite and take the fight to Labour, the Liberal Democrats, SNP and Reform.”
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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was also quick to react to the news congratulating Ms Badenoch on her victory.. He said in a post on X: “Congratulations, Kemi Badenoch on becoming the Conservative Party’s new leader.
“The first Black leader of a Westminster party is a proud moment for our country. I look forward to working with you and your party in the interests of the British people.”
Ms Badenoch will now seek to lead the divided and warring Tory party through the long years of opposition before the next general election – expected in 2029. She rapidly became the recent frontrunner with a major survey by the Tory bible Conservative Home finding she had the support of 55% of members.
During the contest and weeks of blue-on-blue infighting, Mr Jenrick took a sly dig at his rival telling members he offered a “serious plan, not needless drama”. He said the Conservatives needed a leader who doesn’t get “drawn down rabbit holes” or spend time doing “battle on Twitter“. Ms Badenoch has been involved in a series of high-profile spats in recent years.
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She faced calls to resign in 2021 after targeting a journalist on Twitter, calling her “creepy and bizarre” for asking questions. More recently Ms Badenoch was embroiled in a very public row with former Post Office chairman Henry Staunton.
She also lashed out at Dr Who star David Tennant after he said she should “shut up” during an awards speech.
During the contest, Ms Badenoch then found herself at the centre of a political storm due over maternity pay comments at the Conservative party conference in October. She was branded “hopelessly out of touch” after suggesting maternity pay was “excessive”.
She later claimed not to have rallied against maternity pay at all, writing on X: “Contrary to what some have said, I clearly said the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far… of course I believe in maternity pay!”
During the same party conference, Ms Badenoch, a former Business Secretary, was also criticised for saying that between 5% and 10% of civil servants are “should-be-in-prison bad”. Unions said Ms Badenoch was using public servants as “vote fodder”.
The right-winger whined: “There’s about 5-10% of them (civil servants) who are very, very bad. You know, should-be-in-prison bad. Leaking official secrets, undermining their ministers … agitating. I had some of it in my department, usually union-led, but most of them actually want to do a good job. And the good ones are very frustrated by the bad ones.”