the very right-wing Kemi Badenoch elected to lead the conservative party

This Saturday, November 2, Kemi Badenoch became the new leader of the British Conservative Party, now in opposition in the United Kingdom, after a vote by its activists who chose this forty-year-old defender of a return to “true conservatism” and a strict immigration policy.

After three months of campaigning, this fierce « anti-woke » who was considered the favorite of the vote was elected with nearly 57% of the votes, facing Robert Jenrick, also positioned to the right of the party. She thus becomes the first black woman to lead one of the main political parties in the United Kingdom.

The election was called after the announcement of the resignation of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in the wake of the historic electoral defeat of the Conservatives in the last legislative elections on July 4.

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“The time has come to tell the truth, to stand up for our principles, to plan for our future, to rethink our politics and thinking, and to give our party and our country the fresh start they deserve.”declared Kemi Badenoch just after the announcement of his victory.

Two thirds of its deputies lost in the legislative elections

This 44-year-old engineer by training who had already tried, without success, to take the lead of the conservative party in 2022 will now have a lot to do to revive the largely weakened Tories after their historic electoral debacle in the last legislative elections. With 121 elected officials, the party lost two thirds of its deputies in the House of Commons.

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Voters sanctioned him after 14 years in power, marked by Brexit, so many believe that it has not been the promised success, an austerity policy that has impoverished public services and the scandals of the era of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

But many people question Kemi Badenoch's ability to unify and rebuild a very divided party and the relevance of the turn to the right that she seems to want to make it take.