After winning a historic victory in a party leadership battle, Kemi Badenoch has pledged to win back voters who have defected from the Conservatives.
The 44-year-old is the first Black woman in the UK to hold the position of leader of a major political party.
After a fierce battle to replace Rishi Sunak, who led the party to its largest defeat in history in the general election held in July, she defeated fellow right-winger Robert Jenrick by 12,418 votes.
During her victory address, Badenoch informed her supporters that it was “time to get down to business” and pledged to “renew” the party.
Badenoch, the sixth Tory leader in less than nine years, must now lead the opposition to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government and bring the party together.
“Our party is critical to the success of our country,” the Saffron Walden MP stated, adding that the Conservatives must “bring back” the supporters who turned away from them.But we must be truthful if we want to be heard.
She said the party needs to acknowledge that during its 14 years in power, it “made mistakes” and “let standards slip.”
During her campaign, Badenoch focused on bringing the Conservatives back to “first principles” rather than outlining specific policy.
As she lays out the party’s future structure over the next few days, all eyes will be on the people she selects for her top team.
Despite an occasionally brutal campaign, she gave Jenrick high marks and suggested that he would be given a prominent position, telling him that “you have a key role in our party for years to come.”
After working in finance and IT before becoming an MP in 2017, Badenoch has stated that she would extend employment offers to all of the Conservatives who put forth leadership candidates in July.
However, third-place finisher James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, has ruled himself out.
According to what the BBC has learnt, Badenoch intends to unveil her shadow cabinet by Wednesday in front of the crucial Budget vote and her first appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions against Sir Keir.
After the results were revealed, Jenrick did not address reporters; instead, he urged his followers “to unite behind Kemi and take the fight to this disastrous Labour government” on social media.
He additionally praised “everyone who supported my vision for a Conservative Party rooted in the common ground of British politics” .
The Tory leadership contest was the closest in recent memory, with Badenoch receiving 53,806 votes to Jenrick’s 41,388.
The Conservative 1922 Committee chair, Bob Blackman, who presided over the election, disclosed that the party’s membership had dropped to 132,000, the lowest number ever recorded and a decrease of 40,000 since the last member vote in 2022.
Sunak, one of her predecessors, complimented Badenoch on social media, writing, “I know that she will be a superb leader of our great party.”
Badenoch “brings a much needed zing and zap to the Conservative Party,” according to former prime minister Boris Johnson, who also praised her “courage and clarity.”
“The first Black leader of a Westminster party is a proud moment for our country,” Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wrote on social media.
He concluded by saying: “I look forward to working with you and your party in the interests of the British people.”
But Labour Party Chair Ellie Reeves said the Conservative leadership campaign showed the party had “learned nothing since the British people resoundingly rejected them in July”.
In addition to congratulating Badenoch, Lib Dem Leader Sir Ed Davey stated that “the first Black leader of a major UK political party is a historic moment for the country.”
But Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice called Badenoch “another in a long line of Tory politicians who say one thing and do another”.
“Kemi Badenoch was at the forefront of a government that failed Britain,” he stated in a statement.
Over the 14-week campaign, the debate was dominated by immigration, the economy and how the Conservatives can rebuild trust with voters.
The party was reduced to a record low of 121 seats in the House of Commons at the general election, with under 24% of the vote.
It 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 4 July poll.
Dame Priti Patel, Mel Stride and Tom Tugendhat spent the summer campaigning alongside Jenrick, Badenoch and Cleverly after they put their names forward in the nominations at the end of July.
Dame Priti and Stride were the first two contenders to be eliminated in September in ballots of Tory MPs, leaving four by the time the party gathered in Birmingham for its autumn conference at the end of the month.
Cleverly appeared to be in the lead after the conference, topping the third MP ballot. But in the final MP vote, he slid to 37 votes, behind Badenoch’s 42 and Jenrick’s 41.
The final two then went to a vote of the membership, which turned out to be closer than many had expected, with Badenoch long seen as a favourite among the party’s grassroots.
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