Britain's Conservative Party elected Kemi Badenoch as its leader on Saturday, as it attempts to bounce back from a crushing electoral defeat that ended 14 years in power.
Ms Badenoch (pronounced BADE-enock) beat her rival Robert Jenrick in a vote involving almost 100,000 members of the centre-right party.
She is the first black woman to lead a major British political party.
Ms Badenoch replaces former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who in July led the Conservatives to their worst election result since 1832.
The Conservatives are left with only 121 MPs in Parliament after losing more than 200 seats.
The new leader's daunting task is to try to restore the party's reputation after years of divisions, scandals and economic tumult, hammering Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer's policies on key issues such as the economy and immigration, and to bring the Conservatives back to power in the next elections, scheduled for 2029.
“The task before us is difficult but simple,” Badenoch said in a victory speech in London to a room full of Conservative lawmakers, aides and journalists.
“Our first responsibility as Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition is to hold this Labor Government to account. Our second responsibility is no less important. It is about preparing the government over the next few years, to ensure that by the time of the next election we not only have a clear set of Conservative promises that appeal to the British people, but also a clear plan on how to implement them, a clear plan to change this country by changing the way government works.”
Ms Badenoch was born in London to Nigerian parents and spent much of her childhood in the West African country.
The 44-year-old former computer engineer presents herself as a disruptor, advocating for a low-tax market economy and pledging to “rewire, reboot and reprogram” the British state.
A critic of multiculturalism and self-described enemy of wokeness, Ms Badenoch drew criticism for recently declaring that “not all cultures have the same value” and for suggesting that maternity pay was excessive.
In a race that lasted more than three months, conservative lawmakers narrowed the field to six candidates in a series of votes before putting the final two to the full party membership.
Both finalists came from the right of the party and argued they could win back voters from Reform UK, the hard-right, anti-immigration party led by populist politician Nigel Farage, which has eaten into Conservative support.
But the party has also lost many voters to the winning Labor party and the centrist Liberal Democrats, and some conservatives fear a shift to the right could alienate the party from public opinion
