The Conservative party has elected a new leader – one with a combative reputation. Isabel Hardman reports
After almost four months, the Conservatives have finally elected a new leader – their sixth in nine years. Kemi Badenoch, a former software engineer who prides herself on “straight-talking”, said it was an “enormous honour to lead the party I love”. But the party she joined in her 20s was very different to the one she leads today, left with just 121 MPs after a historic defeat and an ageing membership. Yet Badenoch insists she can make the party win again – by the next election.
The Spectator columnist Isabel Hardman explains how Badenoch’s background has shaped her principles. From a childhood in Nigeria to university in the UK to working at the Spectator where, Hardman says, it was clear she was someone who had “huge ambition” and “clearly felt [she] had a lot to offer national politics”.
