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Newly elected Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has admitted the Tories “let standards slip” but vowed to rebuild the party.
In a resounding victory after being the overwhelming odds on favourite to win the Conservative leadership contest, the right-wing culture warrior bagged 53,806 votes over Robert Jenrick’s 41,000, out of a total electorate of 131,680.
The four-month-long race to replace Rishi Sunak reached the finish line on Saturday, with the result of the leadership ballot announced in the morning after the members’ ballot closed on Thursday.
Mr Sunak and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer were among those offering Ms Badenoch their congratulations.
Ms Badenoch will be at the helm as the Tories look to recover from the July election result, which saw them return just 121 MPs, having lost lost seats to Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK.
Immigration, the economy, and how the Tories can rebuild trust with the electorate and win back the voters they lost have all been discussed at length through the campaign.
Dame Priti Patel, Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly also put their names forward in the nominations at the end of July and spent the summer campaigning before they were each knocked out of the contest.
Badenoch repeats calls for Conservatives to ‘renew’ in social media post following win
Kemi Badenoch has repeated her calls for the Conservatives to “renew” in a post on social media following her election as leader of the party.
In a post on X this afternoon, she wrote: “It is an honour and a privilege to have been elected to lead our great Conservative Party. A party that I love, that has given me so much.
“I’d also like to pay tribute to Robert Jenrick who fought a great campaign. I have no doubt he will have a key role to play in our party for many years to come.
“Thank you to all the members who have put their faith in me.
“It is time to get down to business.
“It is time to renew.”
Full story: Badenoch calls for Tories to be honest about mistakes as she’s elected leader
Political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:
What will be the top issues facing Badenoch as leader of the Conservatives?
- Party unity: Ms Badenoch becomes the Tory party’s fourth leader since the summer of 2022. Tory MPs have had public disagreements and squabbles in recent years over topics from immigration to integrity. Conservative peer and elections commentator, Lord Robert Hayward, said bringing the party back together is the next leader’s number one task.
- Immigration: The issue of immigration and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is one that could bring party unity back to centre stage and has been a much-discussed topic during the campaign. Adam Drummond, the head of political and social research at pollster Opinium, said of the new leader, “it’s hard to see them not talking about immigration a lot”. Ms Badenoch has said that focusing on the ECHR risks shutting “the conversation that we need to have with the entire country” on immigration, and has not gone as far as to say she would quit the agreement completely, writing in The Daily Telegraph in September that “if necessary” the UK should leave “international frameworks like the ECHR”.
- The economy: Focusing on the economy could provide a “viable” path back to power for the Conservatives, Mr Drummond suggested. Responding to Rachel Reeves’ first Budget on Wednesday, Ms Badenoch told LBC that “this is not a growth Budget”.
- Winning back votes lost at the general election: The Conservatives secured 121 seats at the general election in July, losing constituencies to Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK in different parts of the country. Labour won almost 300 more seats than the Tories with 33 per cent of the vote, compared to the Conservatives’ 23 per cent. As well as reuniting the party in Parliament, Lord Hayward said that under the new leader, the party has to “get a message across to the public at large” about their position as Labour’s main opposition.
Kemi Badenoch: The darling of the Tory right bidding to lead them back to power
Never frightened to ruffle feathers, new Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch’s willingness to say what others may regard as unsayable has made her the darling of the Tory grassroots.
Her forthright views on issues from gender identity to institutional racism have thrilled supporters on the right while outraging critics on the left in equal measure.
In the course of a turbulent ministerial career Ms Badenoch clashed with civil servants over her insistence public buildings should have separate men’s and women’s toilet facilities and faced accusations of bullying her own officials.
Read more here:
Ellie Reeves ‘worried’ about policies Badenoch would advocate as leader of opposition
Ellie Reeves said she is “worried” about the policies that Kemi Badenoch would advocate as leader of the opposition.
The Labour Party chairwoman told broadcasters: “Kemi was part of the chaos of the last 14 years, serving in various roles.
“And when you think about her leadership campaign, she made some pretty negative comments about autistic children, she said that maternity pay was excessive and the national minimum wage was harmful.
“I’m quite worried about what that means.
“Is their policy going to be to get rid of maternity pay? Would they scrap the minimum wage?
“These are all the things that need to be answered.”
Jenrick congratulates Badenoch and calls for Conservative Party to ‘unite behind’ her
Robert Jenrick has congratulated Kemi Badenoch and called for the Conservative Party to “unite behind” her.
Following his defeat in the Tory leadership election, he posted on X: “Congratulations to Kemi Badenoch. Thank you to everyone who supported my vision for a Conservative Party rooted in the common ground of British politics.
“It’s now time for the Conservatives to unite behind Kemi and take the fight to this disastrous Labour government.”
Read Kemi Badenoch’s speech in full as new Tory leader: ‘The time has come to tell the truth’
Here is her first speech as party leader in full, delivered immediately after the result:
Conservative MP Chris Philp says ‘now whole party will unite behind’ Badenoch
Conservative MP Chris Philp said he is “delighted” that Kemi Badenoch has won the Conservative leadership race and “now the whole party will unite behind her”.
The former minister told the PA news agency that it is the party’s job to “take the fight to Labour” who have just “delivered a terrible Budget”.
He added: “We’re going to unite behind Kemi, we’re going to take the fight to Labour and develop a programme for government over the next few years that we can present to the British people at the next general election.”
On divisions among Conservatives in recent years, he said he thinks the party “recognises those challenges that we’ve had in the past and we’ve learned from that”.
He added: “Everybody in Parliament, the party more widely, no matter who they supported during this campaign will now get behind Kemi because it’s in the national interest that we hold this Labour Government to account for the terrible things they’re doing and present a credible alternative government at the next election.
“So I’m absolutely certain we’re going to have unity going forward.”
Watch: Kemi Badenoch’s husband gets choked up as wife wins Tory leadership race
Kemi Badenoch’s husband gets choked up as wife wins Tory leadership race
Kemi Badenoch’s husband appeared emotional as his wife was announced as the new Tory leader on Saturday, 2 November. The North West Essex MP beat Robert Jenrick with 53,806 votes over her rival’s 41,000, out of a total electorate of 131,680. She became the first black woman elected to lead a major British political party, and the fourth woman to lead the Conservative Party. In a speech following her victory, Ms Badenoch thanked her husband Hamish Badenoch and acknowledged that her party had to be “honest” about the “fact we made mistakes” and “the fact that we let standards slip”.
Badenoch admits Conservatives ‘let standards slip’ but vows to rebuild party
Newly elected Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has admitted the Conservatives “let standards slip” but vowed to rebuild the party.
She 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.”
