Kemi Badenoch Becomes UK Conservative Party’s First Black Leader

Segun Atanda/

Kemi Badenoch has been elected the new UK Conservative leader.

The former business secretary won 57 percent of the vote to defeat her rival Robert Jenrick, the ex-immigration minister.

The turnout was 72.8 percent of the party’s 131,680 members, according to 1922 committee chair Bob Blackman, who unveiled the result at an event in Westminster today.

Badenoch, MP for North West Essex, becomes the first Black leader of the Tories and the fourth woman to lead the party.

In her acceptance speech, she told the party faithful, “The task that stands before us is tough but simple . . . to hold this Labour government to account . . . [and] to prepare over the course of the next few years for government.”

Invoking one of the slogans of her campaign — “the time has come to tell the truth” — she said, “We have to be honest, we made mistakes, let standards slip.”

With a rallying call for all sections of the party to unite, she said the Tories must “reset our politics and thinking”, adding, “It’s time to get down to business, it’s time to renew.”

It was the “most enormous honour” to be elected to “lead the party that I love”, she said, and paid tribute to her predecessor Rishi Sunak.

It is the end of a lengthy contest that formally started after the Tories suffered their worst ever election defeat on July 4.

Badenoch, 44, faces a mountainous path to lead the Conservatives back to power after they slumped to just 121 MPs, down from 365 at the previous election.

Party chair, Richard Fuller, urged members to give the new leader “our full support” and to get out into the community to help “rebuild trust with the electorate”.

The Conservatives must persuade voters that they are “on the side of people who want to contribute to society and get on with their lives”, he said.

Badenoch is expected to have a call with UK prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer. He congratulated her on X and said it was a “proud moment” for the country to gain its first Black leader of a UK party.

She beat five contenders to seize the crown: Jenrick, former home secretary, James Cleverly; ex-security minister, Tom Tugendhat; former pensions secretary, Mel Stride and ex-home secretary, Dame Priti Patel.

She is set to start announcing her frontbench team soon, with crucial roles expected for her prominent supporters, including former energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, former Treasury minister, Laura Trott and ex-innovation minister, Andrew Griffith.

A campaign insider said all her senior appointments would be completed by the time of her first shadow cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Paying tribute to Jenrick’s “energy and determination” — and noting that “we don’t actually disagree on very much” — she signalled he would have a “key role to play” if he chooses to take it up.

However, some of the party’s most experienced politicians will not feature on her cabinet, according to FT.

Former prime minister Sunak; former chancellor, Jeremy Hunt and former home secretary, James Cleverly have all confirmed that they would not serve in the winner’s shadow ministerial team, preferring to take some time out on the backbenches.

Badenoch’s first big test will be demonstrating progress in the local elections in May.

0