Conservative leadership contender Kemi Badenoch speaks during the final day of the Conservative Party conference at the ICC Arena in Birmingham, England, October 2, 2024.
Dan Kitwood | Getty Images News | Getty Images
LONDON — Britain’s opposition Conservatives on Saturday named right-wing Kemi Badenock as their new leader, ending a protracted runoff that marked a moment of reckoning for the party after a crushing election defeat.
Badenock ousted Robert Jenrick to retain the top job, replacing outgoing leader and former chancellor Rishi Sunak.
“It is my greatest honor to be elected to this position,” Badenock said in a speech shortly after the election results were announced.
The decision comes after a three-month campaign during which an initial shortlist of six candidates was whittled down to two rounds of voting by Conservative MPs.
The final winner was decided by Conservative Party members, with Badenock receiving 53,806 votes and Jenrick receiving 41,388 votes. The voter turnout rate was 72.8%.
Badenock’s victory confirmed a further shift to the right for Britain’s oldest party, suggesting it may take a tougher approach to the opposition’s immigration, climate measures and cultural politics.
Right-wing candidates Badenock and Jenrick are seen as unlikely rivals in the final vote, with some MPs saying a tactical vote aimed at hurting their least favorite figures instead pitted the former front-runner against the more centrist race James Cleverly had the opposite effect.
The Conservatives suffered a crushing defeat in the UK’s July 4 general election, handing Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor government a landslide victory as voters expressed disapproval of an ongoing leadership change as the party’s 14-year rule comes to an end. and political infighting.
Who is Kemi Badnock?
Former business minister Badenoch, who worked in IT and banking before entering politics, was elected to parliament in 2017 and held ministerial posts under three prime ministers.
Badenock, 44, is a staunch supporter of Brexit and is known for her outspoken views and tough stances on divisive issues such as immigration and trans rights, including during her time as women and equalities minister.
Badenock, who finished fourth in the 2022 runoff in her second leadership bid in two years, vowed to shake up the Conservatives, arguing they had become too much like Labour, and proposed less state intervention and more focus on families .
However, her strong political views have caused controversy over the years, with recent comments about maternity pay drawing attention. “Going too far” sparking backlash, and she suggestion “Not all cultures are equally valid” reinforces her image as a so-called culture warrior.
Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick speaks during a ‘Meet the Leader’ event on the third day of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, England, October 1, 2024.
Ian Forsyth | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Once a close ally of Sunak, Jenrick began his political career as a centrist figure but has since aligned himself with the right wing of the party and has made regaining control of Britain’s borders a core tenet of his leadership.
The 42-year-old former lawyer resigned as immigration minister in December 2023, insisting Sunak’s Rwandan legislation did not go far enough. He further vowed to pull the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights in a bid to increase deportations.
Jenrick’s increasingly hardline stance has made him the focus of several scandals in recent years, including in 2023 when he ordered a mural of cartoon characters to be painted over at a reception center for child asylum seekers in Dover.
He was also reprimanded by Starmer earlier this week for suggesting police had “hidden” information about the killings of three girls in Southport in July, which sparked a wave of far-right violence at the time.
What does this mean for a Labor government?
A leadership victory is unlikely to have any direct impact on the current government, as Labor holds the second-largest parliamentary majority in history.
When the UK votes for its next government in five years, it is also likely that the new leader of the Conservative Party will no longer be in place.
However, a reinvigorated opposition will be better able to put pressure on Starmer and condemn some of his key policies.
At the same time, return Brexiteer Nigel Farage’s political battle in June, coupled with a surprise election victory for his Reform Party, could see the Conservatives move further to the right to prevent further electoral losses.
Some analysts have suggested that the newly reformed Conservatives could even work with the Reform Party’s Farage to bolster support – a suggestion that Farage has said he “never says never”.
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