Kemi Badenoch Wins Conservative Party Leader Election
Kemi Badenoch is the new leader of the Conservative Party (Alamy)
2 min read
Kemi Badenoch has won the contest to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.
Party members cast their votes on Thursday, choosing the final leader from the two remaining candidates to replace Rishi Sunak as leader.
Robert Jenrick came second in the contest, and four candidates – James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat, Mel Stride, and Priti Patel, were knocked out in previous ballots of Conservative MPs.
The results of the final ballot of party members was:
- Kemi Badenoch: 53,806
- Robert Jenrick: 41,388
72.8 per cent of members turned out to vote, out of 131,680 eligible members, with 655 ballot papers rejected.
The result comes almost four months after the Tories suffered a historic general election defeat which saw the party's number of MPs reduced from 344 before the election to 121. This is the smallest cohort any Conservative party leader will have overseen in more than two centuries, and more than 20 per cent of that figure are new MPs elected in July.
Addressing a room of supporters and members in London after the result, Badenoch said the party's "first responsibility" would be to hold the Labour government to account, and the second would be prepare for government so that by the next 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".
"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," she continued.
"It is time to get down to business. It is time to renew."
Richard Fuller, Conservative Party Chairman, said he would like to congratulation Badenoch on being elected as the new leader.
“Over the course of the leadership contest we have seen six strong, credible candidates who have spent their time travelling around the country meeting our excellent party members," he said.
“I would like to thank all the candidates for their conduct and commitment during the leadership contest and the team at CCHQ for their hard work throughout.
“With Kemi Badenoch in place as our new leader now is the time for the whole Party to unite and take the fight to Labour, the Liberal Democrats, SNP and Reform.”
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