UK: Badenoch and Jenrick Reach Final Two in Tory Leadership Race

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Facts

  • The race to become the next leader of the UK's opposition Conservative Party is now down to its final candidates, former business secretary Kemi Badenoch and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, after four rounds of elimination votes.[1][2]
  • This comes as Badenoch and Jenrick won 42 and 41 votes, respectively, in the final vote among Tory members of the Parliament on Wednesday, with the previous frontrunner, James Cleverly, knocked out with 37 votes.[3][4]
  • The estimated 140K party members will receive ballot papers from Tuesday and be able to vote on their preferred candidate until Oct. 31, with the winner set to be announced on Nov. 2.[5][6]
  • Next Thursday, Badenoch and Jenrick will answer questions from an audience of Conservative Party members in a two-hour multi-platform special live event on GB News.[7]
  • While there are key differences between the two final candidates, they also share similar views, such as their Euroscepticism, net zero skepticism, and a focus on curbing migration.[6][8][9]
  • Whoever wins the leadership contest will be charged with leading the Conservative Party into a general election within the next five years after a defeat in July.[9][10]

Sources: [1]Associated Press, [2]Daily Mail, [3]Sky News, [4]The Times, [5]BBC News, [6]POLITICO, [7]GB News, [8]Independent, [9]Financial Times and [10]Al Jazeera.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Spectator (UK). Kemi Badenoch is finally on track to be crowned as Conservative leader, something that should have already happened had the party membership been allowed to choose her instead of Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss in 2022 — but better late than never. She is the most coherent candidate for Conservatives and the most intimidating candidate for Labour.
  • Narrative B, as provided by The Telegraph. Robert Jenrick is the best candidate to lead the Conservative Party into the next election, as he understands that Tories can only change their fortunes and rebuild the country if they are able to attract voters from both Reform and Left. Furthermore, he proved last year that he is courageous enough to stand by his beliefs.
  • Left narrative, as provided by The Guardian. With Cleverly out of the race, the Conservative Party will move further right — and further away from being an effective opposition. The next Tory leader will be either Badenoch or Jenrick, but the winner of this contest is actually Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, as his dream to capture more Conservative seats next election looks more realistic now.