Kemi Badenoch became the first Black woman to lead Britain's Conservative Party as she replaced Rishi Sunak in the House of Commons as the Leader of Opposition on Saturday.
The 44-year-old Nigerian-heritage parliamentarian defeated former Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick after a three-month-long leadership election following Sunak's resignation after the Tories suffered a bruising general election defeat on July 4.
The shadow secretary of state for Housing, Communities and Local Government started by thanking her predecessor who was the first British Indian leader of the party.
"I want to thank Rishi, no one could have worked harder in such difficult times. Rishi, thank you for everything you did. We all wish you and your wonderful family the very best for the future," said Badenoch in her acceptance speech.
Taking to social media, Sunak further showed his support. "Congratulations to Kemi Badenoch on being elected Conservative Party leader. I know that she will be a superb leader of our great party. She will renew our party, stand up for Conservative values, and take the fight to Labour. Let's unite behind her," he said.
The new Opposition leader also got a congratulatory note from the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. He described it as "a proud moment" to have her as the first Black leader of a Westminster party.
"I look forward to working with you and your party in the interests of the British people," he said.
After a phased election process that had reduced the contenders for leadership to just two, Badenoch thrashed Jenrick with 53,806 votes, polling far more than Jenrick could muster up from the Tory membership, who had voted by way of online and postal ballots throughout the last month.
Chair of the influential Tory 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, Bob Blackman, declared the result in London, as the returning officer.
He said that the election had 131,680 eligible electorate of members of the Conservative Party all over the UK and that the turnout was 72.8 percent.
"The glass ceiling shatters yet again," said Blackman, announcing the new leader for the party.
Badenoch is Member of Parliament for North West Essex, a figure well known in the Tories, since she contested a leadership race two years ago in 2022.
"Our party is vital to the future of our country. But to be heard, we have to be honest, honest about the fact that we made mistakes, honest about the fact that we let standards slip. The time has come to tell the truth to stand up for our principles, to plan for our future, to reset our politics and our thinking, and to give our party and our country the new start that they deserve. It is time to get down to business, it is time to renew," she said, pledging to get the party ready for government in time for the next election in 2029.
Having served as the business and trade secretary who has earlier dealt with FTA talks with India, Badenoch had revealed during the Tory leadership campaign that she had torpedoed the deal due to the insistence on more visas.
"As business secretary, even as I was trying to do things to limit immigration, we had an India FTA where they kept trying to bring in migration and I said no. It's one of the reasons why we didn't sign it," reportedly told The Telegraph, Badenoch.
Both candidates had made immigration an issue during the campaign. Jenrick has singled out India as one of the countries that should be subjected to tough visa restrictions across all categories unless it takes back its nationals who enter Britain illegally.
Badenoch meanwhile condemned new migrants bringing their disputes from India to cause unrest on the streets of the country.
"I saw as equality minister people bringing cultural conflicts from India to the streets of Leicester," she reflected back in September.
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