Kemi Badenoch takes over as leader of the British Conservatives

Kemi Badenoch won the race to become the new leader of Britain’s Conservative Party on Saturday, vowing to return the once-dominant party to its founding principles to win back voters who handed the Conservatives their worst election defeat in July.

Badenoch, 44, replaces former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and has pledged to lead the party through a period of renewal. He says the party has turned to the political center by “governing from the left” and must return to its traditional ideas.

Badenoch, the first black female leader of a major political party in Britain, will bring a right-wing tone to her role, likely supporting policies to shrink the state and challenging what she sees as institutional left-wing thinking set.

“The time has come to tell the truth,” she told an audience during the final count of a months-long leadership contest, promising to answer key questions about how the Conservatives lost the July election so badly.

“It’s time to get started, it’s time to innovate.”

Badenoch becomes the Conservatives’ fifth leader since mid-2016 after 53,806 party members voted in her favor over former immigration secretary Robert Jenrick in the closing stages of a long battle that saw the field of six reduced to two. Jenrick won 41,388 votes.

With outspoken views on everything from what she calls identity politics to the value of public servants, Badenoch attracts both strong admirers and detractors. She is sure to shake up the Conservatives, who saw their contingent of lawmakers in the 650-seat parliament fall to 121 in July from 365 seats in 2019.

With the Labor government off to a bumpy start following the party’s landslide election, some Conservatives have become increasingly optimistic they can win back power at the next election, due in 2029.

But some more centrist Conservatives worry that Badenoch could alienate not only the more moderate wing of the party, but also some voters won over by the centrist Liberal Democrats at the last election.

The former trade minister’s reign was often marked by disputes with the media, celebrities and her own officials. But her no-nonsense approach has also won many supporters, including Conservative members who chose her over Jenrick.

“The task ahead is tough, but simple. Our first responsibility as His Majesty’s loyal opposition is to hold this Labor government to account,” she told party members.

“Our second is no less important: it is the preparation over the course of the coming years for the government.”