Conservative leadership election: Kemi Badenoch wins race to succeed Rishi Sunak as UK party leader

Favourite beats Robert Jenrick in members’ vote after four-month contest

Kemi Badenoch said her priority was to develop a 'clear plan' to hold Keir Starmer's Labour government to account. PA

Kemi Badenoch has won the race to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of Britain's Conservative Party.

Ms Badenoch, 44, beat Robert Jenrick after a four-month contest, sparked by Mr Sunak’s resignation in the wake of a humiliating election defeat.

She is the first person of African heritage to lead the Tories and will now set about appointing her shadow cabinet. Ms Badenoch won 53,806 of the votes (around 56%) to Mr Jenrick's 41,388 (44%) in the leadership election.

Ms Badenoch said her priority was to develop a “clear plan” to hold Keir Starmer's Labour government to account. “The Prime Minister is discovering all too late the perils of not having such a plan. That huge job begins today,” she said.

The Conservatives' work would involve bringing more voters back to the party. “This is not just about the Conservative Party … It is about the people we want to bring in,” she said. She urged a “reset on politics” with the party coming clean to voters about its past “mistakes”.

“To be heard we have to be honest. Honest about the fact we made mistakes. Honest about the fact we let standards slip. The time has come to tell the truth. It is time to get down to business, it is time to renew.”

Turning to Mr Jenrick, she said she had “no doubt” he would have a “key role to play in our party for many years”.

The party had come through the leadership campaign “more united than ever”, Ms Badenoch told former contenders Priti Patel, James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat and Mel Stride. “The party needs you now more than ever,” she said.

She thanked former prime minister Mr Sunak who has now stepped down as party leader. “Thank you for everything you did. No one could have worked harder in such difficult times,” she said.

There was a 72 per cent turnout for the vote, according to Tory MP Bob Blackman, who chairs the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers. “Isn't it great to be the first party to have a black leader. Another glass ceiling shattered,” he said.

It was a contest mired in questions about Britain's identity, security and how far right the Conservatives were willing to go to win back voters.

Former cabinet minister and leadership challenger James Cleverly indicated that he would not serve in a shadow cabinet formed by either Ms Badenoch or Mr Jenrick to the Financial Times on Saturday.

Most people said they had not formed an opinion of Ms Badenoch yet, according to a YouGov poll. But 40 per cent of those questioned said they disliked her.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Ms Badenoch's election was important “for our whole country”. “Your election as the first black leader of a Westminster party is an important moment not only for Brits from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, but for our whole country,” he wrote on social media.

Former justice secretary Robert Buckland told The National that as a leader, Ms Badenoch “will be an excellent person to work with”, having seen her strong character and abilities first-hand when they worked in government together.

“She knows that the party's values need to be reset and that we've got to win trust as without trust, we don't get anywhere in terms of electoral success,” he added. “I think she better understands that more than most and that’s why she deserved to win.”

The role as opposition leader was an “unenviable task” and Ms Badenoch “will not be under any doubt about the scale of work ahead to win back power”, he added.

“She is the person who had more MP support than any other in the leadership race so people need to knuckle down and get on with the job of opposing the government, not opposing each other.”

He added that he hoped a “new phase in politics” would see Ms Badenoch unite the party and “the Tories regrouping”.

He also suggested that she listen to think tanks and policy units who have the expertise to provide her with new and innovative policies. “It's going to be very hard and unglamorous, but I believe Kemi has the strength of spirit to do it,” he said.

Immigration

An issue at the top of Ms Badenoch’s agenda will probably be immigration – where Conservatives lost votes to the right-wing populist Reform Party in this year's general election.

“She will continue to use immigration – and particularly small boats – as a stick with which to beat the Labour government,” Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University, London, told The National. “Although it won't be as easy as it might be since the numbers coming in legally, at least, will reduce quite markedly over the next year or two.”

Ms Badenoch was criticised by Mr Jenrick for not pledging to leave the European Convention on Human Rights. She has said that instead she would work on a new integration strategy that would take into account the culture and politics of migrants entering Britain.

“We cannot be naive and assume immigrants will automatically abandon ancestral ethnic hostilities at the border, or that all cultures are equally valid. They are not,” she has said. “Their feet may be in the UK, but their heads and hearts are still back in their country of origin.”

She would probably continue to raise arguments about migrants not integrating or becoming sufficiently British in the future. “I would expect her to, partly because she believes it and partly in order to match Nigel Farage's 'civilisational' concerns,” Prof Bale said.

Long road back to power

Former defence and foreign minister Tobias Ellwood said Ms Badenoch’s “open-mindedness” and willingness to recognise that the route back to power will be a “long haul” were excellent qualifications for leadership.

“Kemi is a very impressive person and I very much think she could work well and she will rise to the challenge of getting everybody to work with her.

“I believe she has very much woken up to recognising the Conservatives win elections by appealing to not just our base, but way beyond it and that's absolutely crucial.”

He also called on MPs from all factions in the party to get behind her and “make this work”.

“Even though she has been on the front line for a while, she is still pretty much an unknown quantity,” said former Welsh secretary David Jones. “But she is a forceful performer and can be quite strident, which is obviously a good thing. I hope she will prove to be a leader who can oversee strong policy development, which is urgently required.”