Badenoch narrowly defeated Robert Jenrick by just over 12,000 votes in what has been a relentless, often brutal contest to replace Rishi Sunak, who left the Tories reeling from their worst electoral defeat in July’s general election. Her victory speech struck a defiant tone, vowing to “renew” the party and rallying her cheering supporters with a firm “time to get down to business.” But the challenge before her is steep: she’s the sixth Tory leader in under a decade, facing a fractured party and a Labour government firmly in control under Sir Keir Starmer.
Addressing the party’s disastrous trajectory, Badenoch admitted the Tories have “made mistakes” and “let standards slip” over the last 14 years, remarks that many see as a vague attempt to appease wavering voters without real accountability. Notably absent from her campaign was any clear policy direction. Instead, she leaned on nostalgic rhetoric about “returning to first principles,” avoiding specifics and leaving many questioning what, if Anything, she plans to do differently.
As speculation mounts
over who she’ll appoint to her top team, eyes are on the influential MPs she battled over the summer, including Jenrick, whom she graciously praised despite their tense rivalry. However, shadow home secretary James Cleverly, who came third in the race, has pointedly declined any role in Badenoch’s administration, perhaps signaling a deeper rift within the party.The close nature of the vote—Badenoch’s 53,806 to Jenrick’s 41,388—reflects a Tory membership increasingly divided on its future direction. This marks the lowest membership count on record, with party numbers plummeting to just 132,000—down 40,000 since the last leadership vote in 2022. Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson both offered their public congratulations, though Johnson’s comment that Badenoch would bring “zing and zap” to the party could be seen As a thinly veiled critique of her predecessor's failures.
Reactions across the political spectrum have been mixed. While Starmer acknowledged her achievement as the first black leader of a Westminster party, Labour chair Ellie Reeves dismissed the Tories' efforts to “turn a new leaf,” asserting the campaign proved the party “learned nothing” since their July rejection by voters. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey welcomed the historic moment, yet Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice didn’t hold back, labeling Badenoch “just another Tory who talks one way and Acts another.”
With the Conservatives reduced to An embarrassing 121 seats in the Commons, the July general election saw a mass exodus of Tory support across the board—to Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Reform UK, and countless former supporters who simply stayed home. The summer campaign saw other top Tories, including Priti Patel and Mel Stride, fall out early, leaving Badenoch to battle Jenrick and Cleverly in an unexpectedly heated showdown. Badenoch ultimately took the lead in the party membership vote, but it remains to be seen whether she can hold the fractured party together and mount a credible opposition to Labour.