Tory leadership election live: Kemi Badenoch elected new Conservative leader | Politics

Kemi Badenoch wants to have a new shadow cabinet in place before Tuesday, when the first shadow cabinet meeting under her leadership is due to take place, her team say. But they say she is not planning to announce any appointments today.

The Conservative 1922 Committee has changed the rules to make it harder for MPs to trigger a no confidence vote in the new leader. It used to be the case that, if 15% of MPs wrote in private to the 1922 Committee chair asking for a no confidence ballot, they had to hold one. That threshold has gone up to 33%, meaning 40 MPs would have to be fed up with Kemi Badenoch for a ballot to take place.

Bob Blackman, the 1922 Committee chair, said last month the threshold would be raised to at least 30%. In an interview with Christopher Hope from GB News, he has announced that the executive of the 1922 Committee settled on 33%. Hope says;

The Tories have made it harder to remove new leader Kemi Badenoch. Sir Bob Blackman, the chairman of the 1922 committee tells me for @GBNEWS that the threshold to trigger a vote of no confidence has been secretly increased from 15pc to 33 pc of the Parliamentary party. This means that 40 MPs will be needed to trigger a vote of no confidence in Badenoch, rather than 18 MPs under the old 15pc rule. The change was made at a private meeting of the 1922’s executive last Wednesday.

For the record, here is the extract from Kemi Badenoch’s victory speech with her message for her party.

The task that stands before us is tough, but simple. Our first responsibility, as His Majesty’s loyal opposition, is to hold this Labour government to account.

Our second is no less important. It is to prepare over the course of the next few years for government, to ensure that by the time of the next election, we have not just a clear set of Conservative pledges that appeal to the British people, but a clear plan for how to implement them.

A clear plan to change this country by changing the way that government works. The prime minister is discovering all too late the perils of not having such a plan. That huge job begins today.

It will seek to involve all of our colleagues in parliament, in the Scottish parliament, the Senedd, our friends in Northern Ireland, as well as councillors and party members. But this is not just about the Conservative party. It is about the people we want to bring back to the Conservative party.

It is about the people we need to bring into the Conservative party. It is about what the Conservative party needs to be over the next five, ten and twenty years. Our party is critical to the success of our country. But to be heard, we have to be honest.

Honest about the fact that we made mistakes. Honest about the fact that we let standards slip. The time has come to tell the truth. The time has come to tell the truth, to stand up for our principles, to plan for our future, to reset our politics and our thinking, and to give our party and our country the new start that they deserve. It is time to get down to business. It is time to renew.

Badenoch used language like this throughout the leadership contest but, like all the other candidates, she was reluctant to spell out in much detail what the “mistakes” made by the last government actually were, and who was at fault. The obvious culprits are Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, but they both remain quite popular with some Tory members and there was very little explicit criticism of what they did in office from anyone during the campaign.

What we don’t know yet is whether Badenoch will be minded to turn on her predecessors more bluntly now that she has won the leadership.

Keir Starmer has congratulated Kemi Badenoch on her election victory, saying the fact that she has become the first black leader of a Westminster party is “a proud moment for our country”. He posted this on social media.

Congratulations, @KemiBadenoch, on becoming the Conservative Party’s new leader.

The first Black leader of a Westminster party is a proud moment for our country.

I look forward to working with you and your party in the interests of the British people.

This is a version of what he said, in slightly more uplifting language, at PMQs on Wednesday when he said that having Rishi Sunak and his family light the diyas outside No 10 last year was “a significant moment in our national story” because he was the first British Asian PM and it showed Britain was a country “where people of every background can fulfil their dreams”.

Badenoch herself is unlikely to talk so much about being the first black leader of a major UK party. Although she was equalities minister, she thinks leftwingers exaggerate the extent to which black people are disadvantaged by structural inequalities in Britain.

Kemi Badenoch won with 57% of the vote.

That is a less decisive victory than David Cameron’s, (68%), Boris Johnson’s (66%) and Iain Duncan Smith’s (61%), and similar to Liz Truss’s (also 57%).

Badenoch said she would want to all colleagues to contribute to the job of renewing the party, including Conservatives in the Scottish parliament, in the Senedd, from Northern Ireland, as well as councillors and party members.

The Conservative party was “critical to the success of our country”, she said.

But she said they had to admit where they made mistakes.

Our party is critical to the success of our country, but to be heard, we have to be honest, honest about the fact that we’ve made mistakes …

The time has come to tell the truth, to stand up for our principles, to plan for our future, to reset our politics and our thinking, and to give our party and our country the new start that they deserve. It is time to get down to business. It’s time to renew.

And that was it. It was a very short speech from Badenoch, that was little more than a rehash of her stump speech.

Badenoch says the Conservative party have a tough but simple job.

They have to hold the government to account, and to prepare for government, she says.

They need, not just clear “Conservative pledges that appeal to the British people”, but also, “a clear plan to change this country by changing the way that government works.”.

She claims Keir Starmer is discovering the perils of not having such a plan.

Kemi Badenoch is speaking now.

She thanks Richard Fuller, the party chair, and party members.

She goes on:

It is the most enormous honour to be elected to this role, to lead a party that I love, the party that has given me so much.

I hope that I will be able to repay that debt.

She thanks her husband, Hamish Badenoch, and Rishi Sunak.

And she pays tribute to her rival, Robert Jenrick. She says:

I’d also like to pay a special tribute to Robert Jenrick, who has fought a great campaign.

Rob, we have all been impressed by your energy and your determination.

You and I know that we don’t actually disagree on very much. And I have no doubt that you have a key role to play in our party for many years to come. Thank you.

Here are the full figures from CCHQ.

There were 131,680 eligible electors. Turnout was 72.8%.

Kemi Badenoch received 53,806 votes

Robert Jenrick received 41,388 votes

There were 655 rejected ballots.

66,288 electors voted online and 29,621 electors voted by post.

Blackman does not give us the full result for Robert Jenrick – at least not so we can hear at the back.

He welcomes Badenoch to the state, and says it is wonderful to have the first black leader of the party.

Blackman is now reading out the results.

Kemi Badenoch: 53,806

Robert Jenrick: 41 – we can’t hear the rest because of the cheering

Number of members eligible to vote: 131,680

Turnout: 72.8%

Spoilt ballot papers: 655 (610 unmarked or void, and 45 rejected because they voted for more than one candidate)

Bob Blackman, chair of the 1922 Committee, is now speaking.

He starts by thanking Richard Fuller for his work as party chairman.

He says, when he became chair of the 1922 Committee, he wanted to ensure the party had a chance to rebuild, with a broad swathe of candidates.

They reached compromise between those who wanted a very short contest, and those who wanted it to go into next year.

Blackman also says he wanted to ensure Rishi Sunak had the chance to respond to the budget. Suank “eviscerated” the budget, he says.

Fuller says whoever wins needs the party’s full support.

And he welcomes Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick into the room.

They get a standing ovation.

Richard Fuller welcomes those who are here. And he thanks members for making the contest so “engaging”.

He names all six candidates, and thanks them for putting themselves forward.

It’s starting. Richard Fuller, the Conservative chair, is taking the stage.

From Christopher Hope from GB News

Back in the room, we’re only about five minutes away from the star of proceedings. All the seats are taken and they have started playing stirring music (but not Taylor Swift – Kemi Badenoch’s current favourite).