LONDON — The voting for the leadership of Britain’s Conservative Party wrapped up on Thursday, concluding a months-long contest following a significant electoral defeat. The results are set to be revealed on Saturday.
Party members, numbering in the tens of thousands, participated in the runoff election featuring lawmakers Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick.
Over the past three months, the competition evolved as Conservative lawmakers initially narrowed a list of six candidates down to the final two, who were then presented to the broader party membership for a vote.
While both candidates believe the race is competitive, there is a lack of reliable polling data to accurately gauge the sentiment among voters. The Conservative Party does not officially disclose its membership numbers, although estimates suggested approximately 172,000 members in 2022, a demographic that tends to include a wealthier, older, and predominantly white male population.
The necessity for a new leader comes after former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government led the party to its most significant electoral setback in over 190 years in July, resulting in the loss of more than 200 seats and reducing the party’s representation to just 121 members in the House of Commons.
The future leader faces the formidable challenge of rebuilding the party’s image, which has suffered due to past divisions, scandals, and economic instability. They will have to effectively challenge Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer on pressing issues such as economic policies and immigration, with the aim of regaining power in the next general election scheduled before 2029.
Kemi Badenoch, 44, born in London to Nigerian immigrants, would make history as the first Black woman to head a major British political party. A former software engineer, she presents herself as a reformer advocating for a low-tax, free-market economy, and asserts plans to “rewire, reboot, and reprogram” the British government. She is known for her critical stance on multiculturalism and openly challenges “wokeness,” recently stating that “not all cultures are equally valid.”
On the other hand, Robert Jenrick, 42, initially a moderate who opposed Brexit in the 2016 referendum, has shifted towards a more nationalistic viewpoint. He advocates for the U.K. to exit the European Convention on Human Rights, abolish the national Human Rights Act, restrict mass migration, eliminate carbon-emission targets, and emphasize British identity and culture.
Both candidates align with the right wing of the party and aim to attract voters who have shifted to Reform U.K., a far-right, anti-immigration party led by Nigel Farage that has drawn support away from the Conservatives.
However, the Conservatives also lost votes to Labour and the centrist Liberal Democrats in the previous election, leading to concerns among party members that pursuing a more right-leaning agenda may push the party further from mainstream public sentiment.
The party’s last contested leadership election occurred during its tenure in mid-2022, when members selected Liz Truss over Rishi Sunak. Truss’s reign was brief, lasting only 49 days as her economic policies caused turmoil in the financial markets and diminished the pound’s value, ultimately resulting in her resignation and Sunak’s selection as her successor.