UK's troubled Tory party set to announce new leader

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
2 Nov 2024 11:48

Recent polls show "Anti-woke" candidate Kemi Badenoch ahead of Robert Jenrick in the two-candidate race, with voting concluding on Thursday.

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An undated image of Kemi Badenoch speaking at a press conference (AFP )

The UK's Conservative Party is set to announce its new leader on Saturday, tasked with the challenging role of reuniting a fractured and weakened party that was decisively ousted from power in July after 14 years at the helm.

"Anti-woke" candidate Kemi Badenoch is the frontrunner to succeed former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who stepped down following a significant electoral defeat on July 5.

Recent polls show the 44-year-old Badenoch ahead of Robert Jenrick in the two-candidate race, with voting concluding on Thursday.

The winner will be revealed at 11 am (local time) and will become the official leader of the opposition, confronting Labour's Keir Starmer in the House of Commons during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions.

The new leader will lead a significantly reduced number of Tory MPs following the party's poor performance in the election. They must devise a strategy to rebuild public trust while also addressing the rise of support for the right-wing Reform UK party, headed by Brexit champion Nigel Farage.

Both candidates have campaigned on right-wing platforms, raising concerns about potential future conflicts within the party, which includes many centrist members.

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Badenoch, born in London to Nigerian parents and raised in Lagos, has advocated for a return to conservative values, criticizing her party for becoming overly liberal on social issues like gender identity. She stated, "We talked right but governed left."

According to Blue Ambition, a biography by Conservative peer Michael Ashcroft, Badenoch became "radicalized" into right-wing politics during her university years in the UK, perceiving student activists as the "spoiled, entitled, privileged metropolitan elite-in-training."

Known for her direct communication style, Badenoch has sparked controversy during her campaign. In discussions about immigration, she remarked, "Our country is not a dormitory for people to come here and make money," and noted that "not all cultures are equally valid" in determining who should be permitted to reside in the UK.

Jenrick, 42, has also taken a firm stance on immigration, having resigned as immigration minister in Sunak's administration after asserting that his controversial plan to deport migrants to Rwanda was insufficient.

Following last week's Commonwealth summit, where member states urged the UK to engage in discussions on financial reparations for slavery, he stated in the Daily Mail that the achievements of the British Empire should be celebrated.

As a former corporate lawyer, he has called for a legally binding cap on net migration and for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. Economically, he supports liberalizing reforms akin to those enacted by Margaret Thatcher in the 1970s. A fan of the former prime minister, Jenrick gave his daughter the middle name of "Thatcher".

Despite trailing in the polls, he told the BBC that the contest was "close" due to low voter turnout, further highlighting the apathy surrounding a party likely facing at least five years out of power.

The two candidates emerged after Tory MPs narrowed down the original six candidates through a series of votes. Former Foreign Minister James Cleverly, representing the party's more centrist faction, had seemed poised to reach the final two, but was unexpectedly eliminated in the last vote by lawmakers last month.