Kemi Badenoch vows to renew Tory party after leadership win

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Kemi Badenoch has been elected as the new leader of the UK’s Conservative Party, following a closely contested race with fellow right winger Robert Jenrick. Taking over from Rishi Sunak, who led the Conservatives to their worst ever election defeat in July, Badenoch vowed to “renew” the party in her victory speech. Born in Nigeria, Badenoch is the first black woman to lead a major political party in the UK, but faces the challenge of uniting a fractured party as its sixth leader in under eight and a half years.

The new Tory leader’s “first responsibility” is to hold the Labour government to account, Badenoch said, adding that the party must focus on plans to “bring back” voters who abandoned the Conservatives. She admitted her party made mistakes and let standards slip over its 14 years in government, but said it was critical to the success of the country. Badenoch hinted at a senior role for Jenrick in her leadership team, saying he had a key role to play.

The final vote saw Badenoch win with 53,806 votes compared to Jenrick’s 41,388 votes, making it the closest leadership vote in the party’s history. All eyes are now on who Badenoch will appoint to her top team as she sets out the future shape of the party. Badenoch has previously said she would offer frontbench jobs to all six of her rivals in the leadership race, but shadow home secretary James Cleverly and shadow environment secretary Steve Barclay have ruled themselves out.

The Conservative leadership campaign largely focussed on issues of immigration, the economy, and how the party can rebuild trust with voters. The party lost voters in all directions to Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and Reform UK, with thousands of Conservative voters also choosing to stay at home on the July 4 poll. However, Badenoch’s election as the first black leader of a major UK political party has been hailed as a historic moment

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