LONDON, November 2. /TASS/. Kemi Badenoch has been chosen as the new leader of the British opposition Conservative Party, which was announced following an electronic vote among members of the second most represented political force in the House of Commons of the British parliament.
A total of 53,806 votes were cast in favor of Kemi Badenoch, who served as the head of the Department of Business and Trade from 2023 to 2024. Her opponent in the final round of the intra-party elections, Robert Jenrick, a former deputy head of the Home Office (2022-2023), received 41,388 votes.
Kemi Badenoch, 44, will succeed former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as party leader. Under Sunak's leadership, the Conservatives, in power since 2010, experienced their worst electoral defeat in history, securing only 121 MPs - 244 fewer than their 2019 result of 365. This marks a significant decline from their previous worst performance in the 1906 election, when they won 156 seats.