Swept away in the last elections, the British Conservative Party changes leader. Kemi Badenoch was elected leader on Saturday, November 2, after a vote by activists. After three months of campaigning, this fierce “anti-woke” and supporter of Brexit, considered the favorite of the election, was elected with nearly 57% of the vote, facing Robert Jenrick, also positioned on the right of the party.
“It is an honor and a privilege to have been elected leader of our great Conservative Party. A party that I love and which has given me so much”she greeted
Born in the United Kingdom to parents of Nigerian origin and raised in this African country, she became the first black woman to lead one of the main political parties in the United Kingdom. Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed on “a proud moment for our country”.
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, caught between the rise in power of the party far right Reform UK and the good results of the centrist Lib Dem party.
Kemi Badenoch, a 44-year-old engineer by training, had already tried, unsuccessfully, to take the helm of the Conservative Party in 2022. During her campaign, dominated by the subject of immigration, she advocated a return to “true conservatism”without expanding much on his political program.
She will have a lot to do to revive the largely weakened Tories. With 121 elected officials, the Conservative Party lost two thirds of its deputies in the House of Commons. Voters sanctioned him after 14 years in power, marked by Brexit, which many believe was not the promised success, an austerity policy which impoverished public services and the scandals of the era Boris Johnson.
“We have to admit that we made mistakes”pleaded Kemi Badenoch to party officials after the announcement of his victory. “The time has come to tell the truth, to stand up for our principles, … to rethink our politics and our way of thinking, and to give our party and our country the fresh start they deserve.”
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