2024 Conservative Party leadership contest
Kemi Badenoch is the new leader of the Conservative Party.
On 5 July, former prime minister Rishi Sunak announced he would be stepping down as leader of the Conservative Party. On 2 November, Kemi Badenoch defeated Robert Jenrick to become new leader of the Conservative Party.
What was the process for electing the new Conservative Party leader?
Candidates had to be members of parliament, meaning MPs who recently lost their seat in the general election were ineligible. First, candidates were nominated by fellow MPs. Nominations opened on Wednesday 24 July and closed on Monday 29 July. Candidates needed a total of 10 nominations, including a proposer and seconder. Candidates that failed to meet this threshold were not included in the next stage.
Unlike in previous leadership elections, this election had two stages. First, Conservative MPs voted to narrow down the field of candidates. The first vote was held on 4 September, with a second held on 10 September which narrowed the candidate list down to four. The remaining candidates then had the opportunity to make their cases at the Conservative Party Conference between 29 September and 2 October. MPs then voted again, on 8 and 9 October to reduce the field to two candidates, Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick.
With two candidates remaining, the party membership then cast their votes. Party members who have been members for 90 days when the ballot opens were eligible to vote. The winner of this vote was Kemi Badenoch, who was announced as the new leader of the Conservative Party on 2 November.
Who ran for leadership?
At the deadline for nominations, six candidates had received the necessary backing from MPs to proceed to the next round. These were:
- Kemi Badenoch, MP for Saffron Walden and shadow secretary of state for housing communities and local government
- James Cleverly, MP for Braintree and shadow home secretary. Eliminated in the final voting round.
- Robert Jenrick, MP for Newark and former secretary of state for housing and communities. Eliminated in the members vote.
- Priti Patel, MP for Witham and former home secretary. Eliminated in the first round
- Mel Stride, MP for Central Devon and shadow secretary of state for work and pensions. Eliminated in the second round
- Tom Tugendhat, MP for Tonbridge and Malling and shadow minister for security. Eliminated in the third round
The first round of voting took place on 4 September. Robert Jenrick led with 28 votes, while Priti Patel received the fewest votes (14) and was eliminated from the race. In the second round Mel Stride was eliminated with 16 votes and Jenrick maintained top position with 33 votes.
In the third ballot, Tom Tugendhat was eliminated, with James Cleverly rising to the top of the ballot. Robert Jenrick, who had led in the first two ballots, slipped to second place, and won two fewer votes than the previous round, with 31.
In the final ballot, Cleverly was eliminated, losing two votes and falling to 37. Badenoch finished with the most votes on 42, gaining 12 from the previous round.
In the members vote, Kemi Badenoch defeated Robert Jenrick, winning 56.5% of the vote with a turnout of 72.8% of eligible members.
How long did it take to appoint a new leader?
Since the modern leadership rules were introduced in 1998, the time taken to appoint a new party leader has varied from between 214 and four days. The shorter periods occurred when only one candidate met the nomination threshold, as was the case in October 2022, or when a candidate dropped out before the membership vote, as in 2016.
There were 120 days between Rishi Sunak announcing his resignation and the next leader being appointed. This was the second longest leadership race since modern rules were introduced in 1998.
What experience do the candidates have?
The six candidates that entered the race have a wide range of experience in government and parliament. Tom Tugendhat was the only candidate to have no experience as a secretary of state, although he did attend cabinet as minister of state for security in the final years of the Conservative government. James Cleverly and Priti Patel are the only candidates to have held one of the great offices of state.
Priti Patel was the only candidate not to serve in government under Rishi Sunak’s premiership.
