The Conservative Party of Great Britain, which lost its electoral advantage for the first time in 14 years, elected a new leader this year. “The Tories were led by British MP Cami Badenoch of Nigerian descent.
She became the first black woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom. Badenoch beat her opponent Robert Jenrick to become the sixth Tory leader in 9 years, at a time when the party is experiencing significant turbulence. According to the results of the party elections, Badenoch received 53,806 votes against 41,388 votes for Jenrick, and this result was the smallest gap in the party’s history.
Having replaced former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after her defeat in the parliamentary elections, Badenoch said in her post-election speech that the party must “win back” the sympathy of voters who voted for their main opponents, the Labor Party. According to the new Conservative leader, the Tory party must admit that it has “made mistakes” and “broken standards” over the past 14 years in power. These words were bound to be said, as the Labor Party won 209 more seats in the July 2024 snap election than in the 2019 election. And the Conservatives won only 121 seats, 244 fewer than in 2019, when they had 365 seats.
Cami Badenoch has been in British politics for a long time. She has previously served as the Member of Parliament for North West Essex since 2017, where she was re-elected in 2024.
From February 2023 to July 2024, Badenoch was State Secretary of the Department of Business and Trade.
From 2022 to July 4, 2024, she served as Secretary of State for International Trade and was also Minister for Women and Equality at the Center for Equality.
Earlier, from September 2021, Badenokh headed the state Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Self-Government. She also had experience as treasurer of the Treasury and parliamentary deputy secretary of state at the Ministry of Education.
Obviously, the British Conservatives are trying to gain support in an increasingly diverse society in an effort to compete for votes that have been shifted to their left-wing opponents this year. Only time and the mistakes of their opponents will tell whether the candidacy of the new leader will help them.
Author: Valeriy Maydanyuk