Kemi Badenoch becomes first black woman to head UK Conservatives after winning leadership contest
Kemi Badenoch replaces Rishi Sunak as the leader of the UK Conservative Party.
In short:
The UK conservatives have elected Kemi Badenoch as their new leader. She defeated rival candidate Robert Jenrick.
Ms Badenoch has pledged to lead her party through a period of "renewal" by pushing for a smaller state and rejecting identity politics.
What's next?
On the right of the opposition Conservative Party, Ms Badenoch says she will defend the principles of free speech, free enterprise and free markets.
Kemi Badenoch has become the UK Conservatives' new leader and the first black woman to a head a major British political party after winning a leadership contest on a promise to return the party to its founding principles.
The 44-year-old defeated rival candidate Robert Jenrick in an online and postal ballot of party members, securing 57 per cent of the almost 100,000 votes cast, to Mr Jenrick's 43 per cent.
Ms Badenoch, who replaces former prime minister Rishi Sunak, has pledged to lead the party through a period of "renewal" following its resounding defeat at Britain's July election that ended its 14 years in power.
She promised to tackle problems in the party head-on, saying the Conservatives had veered towards the political centre by "governing from the left".
"The task that stands before us is tough but simple," she told party members.
"Our first responsibility as His Majesty's loyal opposition is to hold this Labour government to account.
"Our second is no less important. It is to prepare over the course of the next few years for government."
On the right of the Conservative Party, Ms Badenoch will likely back policies to shrink the state, saying it is time to defend the principles of free speech, free enterprise and free markets.
"The time has come to tell the truth," she told the audience at the final count of the leadership contest, promising to answer the main questions over how the Conservatives lost the July election so badly.
"It is time to get down to business. It is time to renew."
A self-proclaimed enemy of "wokeness", Ms Badenoch opposes identity politics, gender-neutral bathrooms and government plans to reduce UK carbon emissions.
During the leadership campaign, she drew criticism for saying "not all cultures are equally valid", and for suggesting that maternity pay was excessive.
Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the Conservative Party was likely to "swing towards the right both in terms of its economic policies and its social policies" under Ms Badenoch.
He predicted she would pursue "what you might call the boats, boilers and bathrooms strategy …. focusing very much on the trans issue, the immigration issue and scepticism about progress towards net zero."
Kemi Badenoch embraces her husband Hamish Badenoch after being elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party.
With the Labour government off to a bumpy start, some Conservatives are increasingly optimistic they can win back power at the next election, which must be held in 2029.
But some more centrist Conservatives worry Ms Badenoch might alienate not only the more moderate wing of the party but also some voters who were won over by the centrist Liberal Democrats at the last election.
The former trade minister's time in government was often marked by disputes with the media, celebrities and her own officials.
Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed her victory on Saturday, saying: "The first black leader of a Westminster party is a proud moment for our country."
Born in London to Nigerian parents, Ms Badenoch has publicly said she prefers not to focus on her race.
Asked at the Conservative Party conference earlier this year how it would feel to become the first black woman leader of the party, she said: "I am somebody who wants the colour of our skin to be no more significant than the colour of our hair or the colour of our eyes."
Vaughan Gething became the first black leader of the Welsh Labour Party earlier this year, but resigned after just four months as the first minister of Wales after a wave of ministerial resignations in protest over his leadership.
Mr Sunak, who is of Indian origin, became Britain's first prime minister of colour in October 2022 after winning a race to lead the Conservatives that year.
Reuters/AP
By：ABC(责任编辑：admin)
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