Some Conservative members couldn’t even vote for their next leader correctly as Kemi Badenoch declared winner

Shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch has been appointed the next leader of the Conservative Party and leader of the opposition, in a Tory leadership contest which saw 45 party members fail to cast their ballot correctly because they tried to vote for more than one candidate.

Badenoch secured 53,806 votes in the election, compared to the 41,388 votes secured by opponent and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, which had a turnout of more than 72 per cent.

Bob Blackman, returning officer and chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, also revealed that 655 ballots were rejected – with 610 left unmarked or declared void for uncertainty, and the remaining 45 failing to meet the most basic criteria of any vote, which is to only back one candidate.

“Quite tough in a two-person election,” joked Blackman, after the news was met with laughter from those at the event on Saturday (2 November).

The stat has also been met with ridicule online, with X/Twitter users branding Tory members “clowns” for making such an error:

Blackman also said it was “great” that the party has “another female leader” and has become “the first party to have a Black leader of the party”.

“Another glass ceiling shattered,” he said.

Except, that isn’t correct, as that historic moment happened back in April 2019, when Mandu Reid became the leader of the Women’s Equality Party.

Taking to the stage following her win, Badenoch said it was an “enormous honour” to be elected “to lead the party that I love” and which “has given me so much”.

She went on to add: “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.

“It is time to get down to business, it is time to renew.”

Labour leader and prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has already congratulated his rival on her victory, saying the election of the first Black leader of a Westminster party (that’s correct) is “a proud moment for our country”.

“I look forward to working with you and your party in the interests of the British people,” he said.

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