UK Conservative Party (Tories)

Main article: UK Parliament

2024

Kemi Badenok is the party's first black leader

On November 2, 2024, Kemi Badenok became the party leader, who was ahead of her opponent Robert Jenrick by a margin of 12,418 votes (53,806 to 41,388).

Kemi Badenok is the first black leader of the British parliamentary party.

Before her career in politics, Badenok managed to work in the field of information technology and finance, joined the party in 2005, and in 2017 became a member of parliament. In previous governments, she served as Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Minister for Women and Equalities, and Minister for Foreign Trade.

The new leader is a representative of the right flank of the Conservative Party and advocates for a free market, as well as a decrease in the role of the state in the economy. She is known for her directness and willingness to openly discuss controversial issues.

Kemi Badenok inherited a fragmented party, which suffered a crushing defeat in the parliamentary elections and retained only 121 seats out of 650 (before the vote, the Tories controlled 365 seats). In her victory speech, Badenok promised to "renew" the party and told supporters it was "time to get on with the case."

Conference with debates of candidates for the role of party leader

From September 29  to  October 2, 2024, a conference of the Conservative Party of Britain was held in Birmingham, which became a kind of debate place between candidates for the role of the new leader of the party after the failed parliamentary elections.

Now that it is the Conservatives' turn to speak in opposition, they have focused on choosing a successor to Rishi Sunak. The four candidates remaining in the race are:

• former Minister of Entrepreneurship and Trade Kemi Badenok,
• shadow home secretary James Cleverly,
• ex-Migration Secretary Robert Jenrick and
• former security minister Tom Tugendhat.

The leftist Tugendhat spoke of restoring confidence in the Conservative Party and returning to power. In his speech, trying to emphasize military experience, he focused on state security, the national health service and economic growth.

Cleverly, who is on a par with the ex-security minister as yet an outsider in the polls over the chances of reaching the next round of voting, strongly strengthened his position and, perhaps, showed the best results at the conference. His speech, during which he advocated a reduction in state intervention, an increase in defense spending by 3 percent and a decrease in stamp duty, received a constant standing ovation and wide support from delegates.

Bookies favourite Kemi Badenok faced accusations of her use of sponsor Neil Record's office during the election campaign (a similar scandal saw Labour fail its conference).

Right-wing supporter Robert Jenrick in his speech promised to cut foreign aid and implement a withdrawal from the ECHR. However, the politician's remarks about the need to arrest pro-Palestinian activists shouting "Allah akbar" and put up a Star of David at every entrance to Britain as a sign of support for Israel made many think.

Overall, none of the contenders offered a convincing answer to the main question facing the Tories: how, by the next parliamentary election, to win back votes lost on the right flank to Nigel Farage and at the same time lure away voters who defected to the Liberal Democrats, who won 72 seats predominantly in traditional Conservative constituencies.

Parliamentary election defeat for first time in 14 years

In the July 2024 election, the Labour Party regained power for the first time in 14 years.

Labour won 411 parliamentary seats, preliminary figures show. They are followed by the Conservative Party - with 121 faction MPs taking the bench at the Palace of Westminster.

2019: Victory in parliamentary election led by Boris Johnson under slogan of completing Brexit

In the parliamentary elections Great Britain in December 2019, the Conservatives won, or rather, Boris Johnson. The Tories campaigned around one issue: "Let us complete Brexit" (exit). EU Not only has it made campaigning easier, it has given them votes in poor areas where Labour is usually voted on.