Hibapress
Members of the Conservative Party chose Kemi Badenoch on Saturday to succeed Rishi Sunak at the head of the party and thus lead the Tories in their attempt to regain the confidence of the British after the debacle of the last legislative elections.
Among the candidates, both from the right wing of the Tories, party members preferred the former Minister of Enterprise and Trade to Robert Jenrick, who had resigned from his post as minister in charge of immigration, judging that the controversial plan to outsource asylum applications to Rwanda was insufficient. Six candidates started the race on July 24, before being reduced to two over the course of the different rounds. During her campaign, Ms Badenoch promised “renewal” with a program oriented towards change, which allowed her to become the darling of the conservative right, notably thanks to her “anti-woke” outings.
She will now have the difficult task of putting the Conservative Party back on the scene, after the bitter failure suffered during the legislative elections last July, where Labor was propelled to power. Elected to Parliament since 2017 and also a former Minister for Women and Equality, Ms. Badenoch becomes, in fact, leader of the opposition. She will therefore appear every Wednesday in the House of Commons for the traditional questions to the Prime Minister.
In the lower house, however, it will only be able to count on 121 deputies to support it, two thirds less than during the previous legislature. An engineer by training, this former associate director of the private bank Coutts was presented by the British press from the start as the favorite in this race, which she started for the second time after finishing in fourth position in 2022.
