By Emily (Y12)
The last few weeks have been dominated by major political headlines, such as the US election and the announcement of Labour’s new budget. In the background of all of this is a Conservative Party left to pick up the pieces after a disastrous general election, where they were decisively ousted by the general public, losing a staggering 251 seats in a Labour landslide. Kemi Badenoch’s successful bid to become the new leader of the Conservatives could mean a change in direction for the party – but what does this mean for British politics?
How did the leadership race work?
The leadership election has been a lengthy process. On 5th July, the day after the party’s election defeat, Rishi Sunak announced his resignation as party leader, sparking a competitive leadership race which continued until 4th November. There were several rounds of voting for Conservative MPs where the least popular candidate was eliminated each time, eventually leaving Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch as the last two competitors – the winner was decided by Conservative Party members in the final vote.
Who were the candidates?
The frontrunners in the leadership race were James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch.
Cleverly, considered a more moderate Conservative, served as both Foreign and Home Secretary whilst the party was in government – a notable line of his campaign was for his party to “be more normal”, perhaps a subtle dig at his competitors who may want to push the party further to the right. Like many of the leadership hopefuls, Cleverly has made controversial headlines in the past, such as joking about spiking his wife’s drink last year on the same day the government announced new policies on spiking. Nevertheless, he was popular amongst those who believe that the party should try to win back the support of traditionally Conservative voters who voted Labour or Lib Dem in the general election rather than move the party further to the right of the political spectrum.
However, Cleverly was voted out of the leadership race in a surprising move – there was speculation that his supporters had dappled in tactical voting which had failed (although, this speculation hasn’t been formally confirmed).
This left two competitors, both towards the right of the party and neither short of radical ideas of their own. Jenrick, an alumnus of Wolverhampton Grammar, reinvented himself from a centrist to an MP firmly to the right of the party relatively recently, resigning from his role as Immigration Minister after claiming that the Rwanda policy “didn’t go far enough”. His leadership campaign was driven by popular anti-immigration policy ideas in an attempt to garner support with the right of the party – he is a particular advocate for the UK leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
He was the favourite to win the race as candidates further to the right tend to do the best with Conservative Party members (such as Liz Truss in 2022), however, he was narrowly beaten by 12,418 votes by Kemi Badenoch.
Who is Kemi Badenoch and what does she want to do?
The new Conservative leader is a divisive figure – even within her own party. She made history as the first Black leader of a major UK political party, quickly ascending through the ranks despite only being an MP since 2017. Her no-nonsense, blunt communication style is seen as a great attribute by her own supporters, but this has led to many a controversial headline; notably, when she claimed that “not all cultures are equally valid” when discussing immigration, as well as her stance that “maternity pay has gone too far”, despite her being a mother of three.
Her admiration for Margaret Thatcher shines through in many of her proposed reforms to both her party and her country if the Conservatives ever assumed office. She wants the party to revert back to “traditional conservative values”, such as standing for low taxation and low migration, and is an advocate for the limitation of transgender rights, such as removing the right for trans women to use women’s toilets. Like Thatcher, she seems unafraid of taking a hard-lined, combative approach, both when disputing policy and voicing her own, often controversial, opinions.
A combative new leader, a Labour party in the firing line, and a broadening gap between the two parties in ideology. What happens next?
Will things change?
“We can turn this around in one term.” Bold words from the Conservative Party’s new leader as she addresses staff at Conservative Campaign HQ – but can she lead them to a general election victory?
The Conservative Party are still in the process of reestablishing themselves. Depleted numbers, internal divisions and that staggering election defeat seem like overwhelming challenges that will take a very long time to overcome.
Issues from the 14 years of Conservative government such as the Partygate scandal and the economic damage of the Truss premiership have caused intense voter alienation – there is debate within the party about what its next steps should be to try and win back support. It’s likely that Badenoch will try to push the party further to the right in ideology to challenge Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, to whom the Conservatives lost a lot of votes in the general election. If she succeeds in this, the gap in ideology between Labour and the Conservatives will become even wider – this means more clashes and more conflict between the two main parties.
Badenoch has taken the first steps in appointing her new cabinet – including appointing some of her leadership opponents, such as Jenrick, to senior roles. Her next big job is to decide what direction the party should go in to try to regain support from voters. In the meantime, the Conservatives will continue to scrutinise and challenge the Labour government from the opposition benches. Expect many a fiery encounter between the Prime Minister and the new Leader of the Opposition in PMQs – Badenoch certainly isn’t afraid of a fight.
