Kemi Badenoch has been elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party (or Tories) in the UK.
Badenoch beat Robert Jenrick in the final vote among ordinary members. Badenoch won 56.5% of the vote of the nearly 100 000 people who voted, against Jenrick’s 43.5%.
Badenoch succeeds Rishi Sunak, who served as Prime Minister until losing a general election in July.
Badenoch, who was born in London in 1980 to Nigerian parents, becomes the fourth woman to lead the Tories and the first person of African descent. She first became an MP in 2017, after having been a member of the London Assembly, and served in a number of cabinet positions subsequently.
In her victory speech Badenoch promised to “renew” the party, which suffered one of its worst-ever defeats in the July election.
She said the Tories were crucial to the success of the United Kingdom, but the party had to admit where it made mistakes.
Badenoch is expected to announce her shadow cabinet this week.
Image: HM Treasyry via Flickr, https://flickr.com/photos/hmtreasury/50729444097