Kemi Badenoch Has Won The Tory Leadership Race

Kemi Badenoch has beaten Robert Jenrick to become the new leader of the Conservatives.

She received the support of 53,806 Tory members, compared to Jenrick’s 41,388 – a winning margin of more than 12,000 votes.

Her win marks the end of the prolonged four-month race to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the opposition.

She also becomes the first black leader of a major British political party.

Badenoch served as the business and trade secretary in the last government and has been the shadow housing secretary since the Tories were kicked out of Downing Street.

She said the “huge job” ahead involves “the people we want to bring back to the Conservative Party”.

Badenoch said: “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 over 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. 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 time to get down to business, it is time to renew.”

The MP for North West Essex previously raised eyebrows by claiming she is “very, very wary” of saying she wants to become the next prime minister because the job “changes your life forever”.

Badenoch has also faced criticism for several controversies throughout her leadership campaign.

She bizarrely claimed that she had become working class at 16 after getting a job at McDonald’s.

On another occasion, Badenoch suggested not all “cultures are equally valid”.

During the Conservative conference, she also appeared to say that maternity pay is “excessive” before being forced to insist she meant the burden of regulation on business.

The MP has also been accused of endorsing a report which “stigmatised” autism, too.

Badenoch is expected to start assembling her shadow cabinet straight away, but it will not include former leadership candidate James Cleverly, who said he would be returning to the backbenches.

Former ministers Tom Tugendhat, Mel Stride and Priti Patel were all kicked out earlier in the contest having failed to secure enough votes from fellow Conservative MPs.

Labour chair Ellie Reeves said: “It’s been a long leadership election but sadly one thing is clear – the Conservatives have learned nothing since the British people resoundingly rejected them in July. It’s been a summer of yet more Conservative chaos and division.

“They could have spent the past four months listening to the public, taking responsibility for the mess they made and changing their party.

“Instead, Kemi Badenoch’s election as leader shows they’re incapable of change. Meanwhile the Labour government is getting on with fixing the foundations of our economy and cleaning up the mess the Tories left behind.”