Kemi Badenoch was named the new Tory leader today after closing out rival Robert Jenrick.
The shadow housing secretary emerged victorious as the result of a ballot of party members was announced in central London.
Ms Badenoch received 53,806 votes to 41,388 for Mr Jenrick – closer than many expected. Turnout was only 72.8 per of the 131,000 activists.
The moment brings to an end a four-month contest to succeed Rishi Sunak that saw bruising blue-on-blue attacks and claims of ‘dirty tricks’.
During the campaign the candidates aimed brutal barbs at each other, with Ms Badenoch questioning Mr Jenrick’s ‘integrity’ – and him suggesting the Conservatives will ‘die’ with her at the helm.
Kemi Badenoch was named the new Tory leader today after closing out rival Robert Jenrick
Mr Jenrick fell short in his bid to take the party’s top job today
The room in central London was packed for the announcement this morning
Tensions have been rising between the camps, with allegations of ‘dirty tricks’ in the struggle to succeed Rishi Sunak
Polls of activists had suggested that Ms Badenoch would be the victor – but they are notoriously hard to survey.
She faces a mammoth task to restore Tory fortunes and see off the threat from Reform after the astonishing July election rout that reduced the party to just 121 MPs.
They will also have to achieve the revival without some of the surviving ‘big beasts’. James Cleverly – seen as the favourite for leader until his shock eviction in the final round of voting by MPs last month – has announced he will not take a job in the shadow cabinet.
Former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has also said he will not seek to serve, as has ex-deputy PM Oliver Dowden. There are rumours that Sir Oliver will quit the Commons, with ousted Cabinet stalwart Grant Shapps said to be eyeing his seat.
Mr Sunak has insisted he will not leave Parliament, but is expected to return to the backbenches.
After the close of polls on Thursday, both candidates thanked their backers for their support through the contest.
Ms Badenoch described the party as a ‘family’ and said that it is ‘much more to me than a membership organisation’.
Mr 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.
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 through the campaign.
The party lost seats to Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK in the July poll.
Dame Priti Patel, Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat and Mr 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.
While the candidates spent four days vying to secure votes, both Ms Badenoch and Mr Jenrick found themselves embroiled in rows during the conference.
Ms Badenoch ended up asserting her support for maternity pay after comments caused a controversy.
Meanwhile, Mr Jenrick faced heat from other leadership rivals over claims he made about UK special forces.
Shadow home secretary Mr Cleverly looked in pole position after the conference, coming top of the third ballot of MPs with 39 votes, while Mr Tugendhat got knocked out after securing only 20.
But surprisingly Mr Cleverly then did not make the final two names to be put to members the following day, securing only 37 votes compared with Mr Jenrick’s 41 and Ms Badenoch’s 42.
MPs were blamed for trying to be ‘too clever’ by engaging in tactical voting to engineer who else was in the final two.
Since then Mr Jenrick and Ms Badenoch have been travelling up and down the country in their attempts to secure member support.
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.
Amid the events and speeches, Mr Jenrick criticised his opponent for offering up what he called ‘a promise of a plan’ rather than more concrete policies.
He told the BBC’s Westminster Hour in October that ‘I think it’s disrespectful to the members and the public to ask for their votes without saying where you stand on the big issues facing our country today’.
Mr Jenrick added: ‘A plan today is what I offer. A promise of a plan at some point in the future is what my opponent offers, and I don’t think that’s the way to rebuild the public’s trust and confidence in us.’
The contest was triggered after Mr Sunak announced he would step aside in the wake of the party’s election defeat in the summer.
Earlier this week the former prime minister played down suggestions that he would be leaving Westminster for California, and told MPs that he would be spending more time in the ‘greatest place on earth’.
‘If anyone needs me, I will be in Yorkshire,’ he told Prime Minister’s Questions.
There was speculation earlier this year that the Richmond and Northallerton MP – who previously worked at a hedge fund in California – could be in line for a job in Silicon Valley.
James Cleverly – seen as the favourite for leader until his shock eviction in the final round of voting by MPs last month – has announced he will not take a job in the shadow cabinet
‘Today is my last appearance at PMQs and I’m happy to confirm reports that I will now be spending more time in the greatest place on earth where the scenery is indeed worthy of a movie set, and everyone is a character,’ he said.
‘That’s right, if anyone needs me, I will be in Yorkshire.’
The Conservatives returned MPs in 121 seats at the July poll, down hundreds on their 2019 result, having secured less than 25 per cent of the vote nationally.
Speaking on Downing Street the morning after the election, Mr Sunak apologised to the country and his party.
‘To the country, I would like to say first and foremost, I am sorry,’ he said.
‘I have given this job my all, but you have sent a clear signal that the government of the United Kingdom must change.
‘And yours is the only judgment that matters.
‘I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss.’
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s result, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the contest has shown the Conservatives are ‘refusing to take responsibility for the damage they did to the country’.
She said: ‘Whoever wins the Conservative Party leadership contest will have to carry the can for years of failure that tanked the economy and left the NHS on its knees.’
