Kemi Badenoch has vowed to win back former Conservative voters after achieving a landmark victory in the party’s leadership race. The 44-year-old has become the first Black woman to lead a major political party in the UK.
Badenoch won over fellow right-wing candidate Robert Jenrick, 42, with a margin of 12,418 votes after a long contest to replace Rishi Sunak, who led the party to its worst defeat in history in the July general election. In her victory speech, Badenoch promised a “renewal” of the party and urged supporters that it was “time to get down to business.”
Now the sixth Conservative leader in less than nine years, Badenoch faces the immediate challenge of uniting the party and leading the opposition against Keir Starmer’s Labour government. She emphasized the need to “bring back” voters who left the party, noting, “Our party is critical to the success of our country. But to be heard, we have to be honest.” Reflecting on the last 14 years, she acknowledged that the Conservatives had “made mistakes” and “let standards slip” in government.
During her campaign, Badenoch focused less on specific policies and more on returning the Conservatives to their “first principles.” Her attention now turns to building her leadership team, with the party’s future shape expected to become clearer in the coming days. Despite a sometimes tense campaign, she praised Jenrick and hinted he might hold a prominent role, stating, “you have a key role in our party for years to come.”
Badenoch, who has been an MP since 2017 after working in banking and IT, expressed her intent to offer roles to all the Tories who entered the July leadership race. However, shadow home secretary James Cleverly, who finished third, has opted out of any role.
According to the BBC, Badenoch plans to announce her shadow cabinet by Wednesday, ahead of a critical Budget vote and her first confrontation with Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Jenrick did not make any public statements following the announcement but posted on social media, urging his supporters to “unite behind Kemi and take the fight to this disastrous Labour government.” He thanked those who backed his vision for a “Conservative Party rooted in the common ground of British politics.”
In one of the closest Tory leadership races in recent memory, Badenoch received 53,806 votes to Jenrick’s 41,388. Conservative 1922 Committee chair Bob Blackman revealed that party membership had dropped to a record low of 132,000, marking a loss of 40,000 members since the 2022 vote.
Several former Conservative leaders, including Rishi Sunak, offered congratulations, with Sunak posting that Badenoch would be a “superb leader.” Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised her “courage and clarity” and commended her for bringing a “much-needed zing and zap” to the party. Labour’s Keir Starmer also acknowledged her election as a “proud moment” for the country, noting, “I look forward to working with you and your party in the interests of the British people.”
Labour Party chair Ellie Reeves, however, criticized the Conservatives, saying the leadership race showed the party “learned nothing” from its loss in July. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey also congratulated Badenoch, calling her election a “historic moment.” But Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice was more critical, saying she was “another in a long line of Tory politicians who say one thing and do another.”
Over the 14-week campaign, key topics included immigration, the economy, and ways to rebuild voter trust. The Conservatives suffered historic losses in the recent general election, holding only 121 seats with less than 24% of the vote. The party lost support to Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and Reform UK, while many Conservative voters abstained from voting.
Badenoch’s leadership victory came shortly after Labour unveiled its first Budget in 14 years. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Badenoch criticized Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s plans, saying, “Rachel Reeves is conjuring up billions of pounds out of thin air to invest in infrastructure.”
Reeves responded in the Observer, challenging Badenoch to clarify whether she opposed investment in waiting list reductions, education recruitment, and infrastructure development. “Labour has made its choices,” she said, “now the Tories need to make theirs.”
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Badenoch asserted that Labour would fail by “repeating many of our mistakes” and “doubling down on this broken system.”