Kemi Badenoch has won the contest to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative Party leader.
The former business secretary beat former immigration minister Robert Jenrick in a ballot of Conservative members — winning by about 10,000 votes.
The result was announced by Bob Blackman, the chairman of the influential 1922 committee of Conservative backbenchers, at 11.00 am on Saturday.
Badenoch won 53,806 votes (56.6 per cent) to Jenrick’s 41,318 (43.5 per cent).
The election had a turnout of 72.8 per cent, with 131,680 eligible electors (Conservative Party members).
Badenoch and Jenrick reached the last round of the contest after a series of votes by Conservative MPs reduced the field of contenders from six to two.
Badenoch’s campaign centred on “first principles” including family, freedom and personal responsibility, while Jenrick unveiled a raft of detailed policy pledges on capping migration and withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
On 4 September, former home secretary Priti Patel was the first to leave the contest. She was followed by Mel Stride on 10 September, and later by Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly.
Following a strong performance at the Conservative Party Conference, Cleverly had emerged as a frontrunner and finished first in the third round of voting. But the former foreign secretary unexpectedly crashed out in the fourth round of voting, leaving Badenoch and Jenrick to go head-to-head in the final membership stage.
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On Friday, Cleverly told the Financial Times of his intention to return to the backbenches following the contest. Meanwhile, during the campaign, Jenrick had vowed he would serve in Badenoch’s cabinet.
The leadership race was triggered after Rishi Sunak announced his intention to resign as Conservative leader following the general election on 4 July, which saw his party return just 121 MPs.
The result comes after a YouGov poll found only one in eight Britons (12 per cent) have a favourable opinion of Badenoch. 45 per cent of Britons have an unfavourable view of the new Conservative leader, while 43 per cent say they “don’t know” how they feel about Badenoch.
On top of this, according to YouGov, a significant proportion of Conservative voters already have negative opinions of the new Tory leader. Three in ten (29 per cent) have an unfavourable view of Badenoch; 35 per cent have a favourable view.
Speaking after she was declared as new the Conservative Party, Badenoch said it is “time to get down to business” and “renew”.
She said: “The task that stands before us is tough but simple. Our first responsibility as His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition is to hold this Labour government to account. Our second is no less important, it is to prepare over the course of the next few years for government, to ensure that by the time of the election we have not just a clear set of Conservative pledges that appeal to the British people, but a clear plan for how to implement them.
“A clear plan to change this country by changing the way that this government works. The prime minister is discovering all too late the perils of not having such a plan. That huge job begins today.
“It will seek to involve all of our colleagues in parliament, in the Scottish parliament, the Sennedd, our friends in Northern Ireland, as well as councillors and party members. But this is not just about the Conservative Party. It is about the people we want to bring back to the Conservative Party. It is about the people we need to bring into the Conservative Party.
“It is about what the Conservative Party needs to be in the next five, 10 and 20 years. Our party is critical to the success of our country but to be heard we have to be honest. Honest about the fact that we made mistakes, honest about the fact that we let standards slip. 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. It is down to get down to business, it is time to renew. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on X/Twitter here.
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