Kemi Badenoch announced as new Tory leader...

[dutchman]

Kemi Badenoch is the new leader of the Conservative Party, defeating Robert Jenrick in the final round of voting



Badenoch, who was raised in Nigeria, is the first black woman to lead a major political party in the UK.

She takes over from Rishi Sunak, who led the Conservatives to their worst ever election defeat in July.

During her campaign, Badenoch vowed to return the Conservatives to "first principles" and launch a series of reviews in the coming months to shape a new policy platform.

She is also the sixth Tory leader in less than eight and a half years and faces the challenge of uniting a fractured party.

In her victory speech, Badenoch told members it was "time to tell the truth” and “get down to business".

Her "first responsibility" as the new Tory leader "is to hold this Labour government to account," she said.

"Our second is no less important - it is to prepare over the course of the next few years for government."

The final result saw Badenoch win with 53,806 votes compared to Jenrick's 41,388 votes.

All eyes will now turn to who Badenoch chooses for her shadow cabinet as she sets out the the future shape of the party.

Only a third of Conservative MPs backed Badenoch in her leadership win.

Badenoch previously said she would offer a frontbench job to all six of her rivals in the leadership race, including Jenrick.

But shadow home secretary James Cleverly, who came third in the race, has already ruled himself out of a frontbench role.

[dutchman]

Mark Dolan: Kemi Badenoch will save the Tories – and save Britain



She did it. And as she settles into a post previously held by Sir Robert Peel, Sir Winston Churchill and Lady Thatcher, Kemi Badenoch has been burdened with two responsibilities: to save the Conservative Party – the most successful political machine in the history of Western democracy – and to ultimately remove this spiteful and incompetent Labour government, which is proving more radically left-wing than anyone might have feared.

The parallels between Margaret Thatcher and Kemi Badenoch are hard to ignore. A fearless, maverick woman, with a calm, rational, analytic brain, Badenoch is an engineer to Thatcher’s chemist. Thatcher was the Iron Lady, Kemi has balls of steel. And as in 1975, with the election of Mrs T, this is another mic drop from the Conservatives in choosing Britain’s first black woman leader, making a mockery of Labour’s divisive identity politics. The Tories are the true progressives, LOL.

Badenoch, as with Thatcher in 1975, is not the finished article. She has a tendency to speak first and think later, for example with her clumsy remarks about maternity pay or jokingly suggesting the imprisonment of 10% of civil servants (don’t give me ideas). But the appointment of Kemi Badenoch is exciting – she’s box office, she’s a rock star – and in this attention-deficit era, that’s important. She will make headlines. She will make noise. She will make trouble.

And she is Sir Keir Starmer’s worst nightmare; he will look dusty, grey and tired when squaring up to his new opponent at the dispatch box. But her punchy rhetoric and undoubted presence must now be matched with policy. Robert Jenrick’s highly energetic campaign saw a flurry of compelling ideas which can recalibrate this once great party into being conservative again, ideas Kemi must embrace if she is to win, namely: reduce immigration, stop the boats, tackle hated wokery in our public institutions, cut taxes, make the state both smaller and better, and supercharge economic growth. So both Jenrick himself and his bold policy platform must be accommodated in the new regime. He has gone from being her strong opponent – the result was close – to her greatest asset. Jenrick needs a big job.

Ultimately today is a good result for the Conservative Party and for the country. Following Labour’s catastrophic Halloween budget, which has consigned us to five years of low growth, high tax and eye watering debt, I can’t think of a time when we have needed a strong opposition more. The loyal Tory membership – too often treated as an afterthought - have wisely elected someone who is well capable of being just that.

Mercifully, shutting up is not one of Badenoch’s great qualities, which we will discover in the months and years ahead. Some have said she’s too pugnacious, that she could pick a fight with her own reflection. Too right. Here’s someone who will fight for what is right, will fight for common sense and will fight to win. This compelling new leader will take no prisoners and even the formidable Nigel Farage is looking over his shoulder this weekend. The Tories are back. Game on.

[rebbonk]

I'm afraid she won't save the Tories, but I expect some decent entertainment from her before she's replaced.

[dutchman]

Labour MP shares post saying Kemi Badenoch represents ‘white supremacy in blackface’



A Labour MP shared a social media post accusing Kemi Badenoch of representing “white supremacy in blackface” shortly before Mrs Badenoch was elected as the new Tory leader.

Dawn Butler [pictured] appeared to endorse comments that also referred to Mrs Badenoch’s election as a “victory for racism”. The Brent East MP has since undone the repost and it is no longer on her profile on X, formerly Twitter.

The post she shared came from Nels Abbey, a London-based Nigerian journalist, and was headed: Warning: Seven rules for surviving a Kemi Badenoch victory.

It read: “Today the most prominent member of white supremacy’s black collaborator class (in Britain) is likely to be made leader of the Conservative Party. Here are some handy tips for surviving the immediate surge of Badenochism (i.e. white supremacy in blackface).

“Don’t allow yourself to be gaslit. Of course, a victory for Badenoch is an obvious, unprecedented and once inconceivable victory for racism…

“Don’t get arrested… The police don’t do nuance, and they conveniently refuse to understand black and brown intra-communal language or forms of critique, satire or compliment e.g. coconut, Uncle Tom, Aunt Kemi, house negro, choc ice etc.”

The term “house negro” has been widely used to criticise people of colour who assimilate into a white society at the expense of their own ethnic identity.

The term “coconut”, also considered derogatory, describes someone who is black but aligns themselves predominantly with white people and culture.

Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative MP for Huntingdon, urged Sir Keir to remove the Labour whip from Ms Butler.

“It never takes much for Labour’s mask to slip. Dawn Butler is not alone on the Government benches in holding this view of Kemi,” he said. “This will be a test to see whether Keir Starmer removes the whip or effectively condones Butler’s abhorrent approval of this smear.”

[rebbonk]

You couldn't make it up, could you?