Kemi Badenoch beat Robert Jenrick in the Conservative Party’s leadership contest to become the first Black leader of a major U.K. political party.
Badenoch, 44, received 53,806 votes to Jenrick’s 41,388 in a ballot of party members, Bob Blackman, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, which runs Tory leadership contests, said Saturday. She takes over from former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who triggered the succession battle after leading the party to its worst-ever defeat in a general election on July 4.
The former business secretary won 56.5% of valid votes, making it one of the tightest Tory leadership contests. It was a narrower victory than when former Prime Minister Liz Truss secured 57.4% of the vote in 2022 to beat Sunak.
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