Kemi Badenoch has been elected as the new leader (Image: PA Wire)

Kemi Badenoch elected as new Conservative Party leader replacing Rishi Sunak

by · Daily Record

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Kemi Badenoch has been elected as the new Conservative Party leader following a four-month-long race to replace Rishi Sunak. The result of the leadership ballot was announced on Saturday morning after the members ballot closed on Thursday.

Ms Badenoch will be at the helm as the party looks to recover from the July election result which saw it return just 121 MPs. Tory MPs baffled everyone by picking two darlings of the party's right to go head-to-head, despite previous frontrunner James Cleverly's plea for them to "be more normal".

Both candidates thanked their backers for their support through the contest after the close of polls on Thursday. Ms Badenoch described the party as a "family" and said that it is "much more to me than a membership organisation".

Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick , James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat together on stage after delivering their speeches during the Conservative Party conference (Image: PA Wire)

Her rival Rob Jenrick also called for the party to "move past the drama" of recent years and "unite". "Together we can put an end to the excuses, move past the drama, and unite our party," he wrote on X.

During the campaign immigration, the economy, and how the Conservatives can rebuild trust with the electorate and win back voters they lost at the election have all been discussed at length. The party lost seats to Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK in the July poll.

Dame Priti Patel, Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly spent the summer campaigning alongside Mr Jenrick and Ms Badenoch after they put their names forward in the nominations at the end of July.

Dame Priti and Mr Stride were the first two contenders to be eliminated in September, leaving four by the time the party gathered in Birmingham for its autumn conference at the end of the month.

Kemi Badenoch (Image: PA Wire)

Ms Badenoch ended up asserting her support for maternity pay after comments caused a controversy.

At the start of the campaign, Ms Badenoch wrote in The Telegraph that the party "need to get back to first principles" and has been light on the details of specific policies she would enact.

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