The first black woman to be elected leader of the Conservatives and the fourth female leader of the party, Kemi Badenoch’s no-nonsense style of politics in the end won out.
Party members and MPs took the calculation that Badenoch cut through in a way rival Robert Jenrick could not and be best place to take the fight to Labour. She has a hell of a job on her hands.
For a start, her win was not emphatic. It was the closest result of any Tory leadership race ever, as she clocked up 56.5% of the vote against Jenrick’s 43.5%. Turnout was 72.8% of the party’s 130,000 members.
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Badenoch won on fewer votes than Rishi Sunak lost to Liz Truss, who got 57% of the vote. This matters because it highlights the job Badenoch has on her hands to unify the party and ignite the grassroots.
Thousands of members were no doubt fed up that the final choice was two candidates on the right of the party, after James Cleverly’s shock exit.
Meanwhile, in the parliamentary party, Badenoch has been a rather divisive figure, as MPs split into a camp that believes she is the real deal and others who find her abrasive and pugnacious.
She only won the support of a third of MPs in the parliamentary stages of this contest – as did Jenrick and Cleverly. From the party membership to MPs, she has a lot of work to do to build support.
“I personally think she will have a difficult time trying to form a shadow cabinet that reaches beyond her supporters,” said one Tory source after the result. “I wouldn’t be surprised if at least couple of candidates don’t choose to serve.”
There are questions about whether those on the right of the party, who had tried to oust Rishi Sunak months before he called the election and who, in the end, coalesced around the Jenrick campaign, will fall into line and support Badenoch.
Keen Westminster watchers will have noted how Sir John Hayes, a Jenrick backer and influential right-winger who…
