UK’s Conservatives name Kemi Badenoch as new leader, shifting the party further to the right

LONDON — The U.K.’s opposition Conservative Party on Saturday named right-wing Kemi Badenoch as its new leader, closing a long-drawn-out runoff after the Tories’ landslide electoral defeat ushered in a moment of reckoning for the party.

Badenoch ousted Robert Jenrick to secure the top job, replacing outgoing leader and former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The decision follows a three-month contest, during which an initial shortlist of six candidates whittled down to two through four rounds of voting by Tory Members of Parliament (MP). The ultimate winner was decided by Conservative Party members.

Badenoch’s victory confirms a further shift to the right for the U.K.’s oldest political party, suggesting it may take a more hardline approach toward immigration, climate measures and culture politics in opposition.

Fellow right-wing candidates Badenoch and Jenrick were seen as unlikely opponents in the final vote, with some MPs suggesting that tactical voting intended to hurt their least favorite figure had instead backfired on former frontrunner and more centrist contender James Cleverly.

The Conservatives suffered a bruising defeat in the U.K.’s July 4 general election, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government securing a landslide victory as voters grew weary of ongoing leadership changes and political infighting at the tail end of 14 years of Tory rule.

Her strong political views have courted controversy over the years, however, with recent comments about maternity pay having “gone too far” sparking a backlash, while her suggestion that “not all cultures are equally valid” reinforced her image as a so-called culture warrior.

Jenrick, once a close ally of Sunak, began his political career as a centrist figure, but has since aligned himself with the right within the party, making regaining control of the U.K.’s borders a central tenet of his leadership pitch.

The 42-year-ol former lawyer resigned from his role as immigration minister in December 2023, insisting that Sunak’s Rwanda legislation did not go far enough. He further vowed to withdraw Britain from the European Convention of Human Rights to boost deportations.

Jenrick’s increasingly hard-line stance has pushed him to the center of several scandals over recent years, including in 2023, when he ordered that murals of cartoon characters at a reception center for child asylum seekers in Dover be painted over.

Earlier this week, he was also condemned by Starmer for suggesting that police had “concealed” information on the killing of three girls in Southport in July, which at the time sparked a wave of far-right violence.

In the meantime, the return of Brexiteer Nigel Farage to the political fray in June, along with surprise electoral gains for his Reform UK Party, could see the Conservatives shift further right in order to stem further electoral losses.

Some analysts have suggested that the newly reformed Tory party could even partner with Reform’s Farage to bolster support — a suggestion to which Farage has said “never say never.”