Kemi Badenoch elected Saturday as head of the British Conservative Party after a vote by activists who chose this defender of “real conservatism” and a strict policy on immigration.
After three months of campaigning, this fierce “anti-woke” considered the favorite of the election was elected with nearly 57% of the votes, facing Robert Jenrick, also positioned to the right of the party.
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 the far right Reform UK and the good results of the Lib Dem centrists. With 121 elected officials, the party lost two thirds of its deputies in the House of Commons.
Engineer by training
Born in the United Kingdom to parents of Nigerian origin and raised in this African country, Kemi Badenoch becomes the first black woman to lead one of the main political parties in the United Kingdom. Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer also hailed on X “a proud moment for our country”.
This 44-year-old engineer by training, who had already tried, without success, to take the head 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.
“The time has come to tell the truth, to defend our principles, (…) to rethink our politics and our way of thinking and to give our party and our country the fresh start they deserve,” declared Kemi Badenoch in front of party officials just after the announcement of his victory. “We must recognize that we made mistakes,” she pleaded.
“We must recognize that we made mistakes,” argued Kemi Badenoch on Saturday.
Outspokenness and “true conservatism”
Her predecessor Rishi Sunak called on Conservatives to “unite behind her” to “fight Labor” in power, saying she will be a “fantastic leader”. But many people question her 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.
Kemi Badenoch, married and mother of three children, arrives at the head of the Tories with a reputation as an outspoken go-getter, who appeals to the activist base but sometimes bristles even in her own camp.
Her rise within the party, which she joined in the 2000s, has been rapid since her election as an MP in 2017.
From 2019, this staunch Brexit supporter held several secondary ministerial posts under Boris Johnson, who praised her “courage and clarity” and praised the “necessary dynamism” she brings to the party, before being promoted by Liz Truss then Rishi Sunak, where she was Trade Minister until the elections.
During her campaign she advocated a return to “true conservatism”, without expanding much on her political program.
Immigration and culture war
After a legislative election marked by the rise to power of the far-right Reform UK party, the campaign was dominated by the subject of immigration.
Kemi Badenoch made it one of his priorities, stating in particular that it “was not good” for the country and that “all cultures are not equal” to justify a more targeted migration policy. An outing which sparked controversy, not the first for this person used to making shocking statements.
Kemi Badenoch above all displays his very conservative position in the debate on the culture wars linked in particular to the rights of LGBT+ people or ethnic minorities. She also said she was “skeptical” about the carbon neutrality objective that the United Kingdom has set.
“I’m not a shy person. And people often use your strengths to present them as weaknesses,” she said in the final stretch of the campaign.
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