Nigerian British Conservatives kemi banoch emerged as party new leader, first Black woman in the role

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Kemi Badenoch became the Conservatives' new leader and the first Black woman to a head a major British political party, after winning a leadership contest Saturday on a promise to return the party to its founding principles.

Badenoch, 44, replaces former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and has pledged to lead the party through a period of renewal after its resounding defeat in Britain's July election, saying it had veered toward the political center by "governing from the left."

On the right of the Conservative Party, Badenoch will likely back policies to shrink the state and challenge what she says is institutional left-wing thinking, saying it is time to defend the principles of free speech, free enterprise and free markets.

Badenoch becomes the Conservatives' fifth leader since mid-2016 after winning 57% of party members' votes in the final stage of a monthslong contest that saw a field of six whittled to two. She beat a former immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, who received 43% of the votes.

Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed her victory, saying "the first Black leader of a Westminster party is a proud moment for our country."

Badenoch has publicly said she prefers not to focus on her race.

Asked at the Conservative Party conference earlier this year how it would feel to become the first Black woman leader of the party, she said: "I am somebody who wants the color of our skin to be no more significant than the color of our hair or the color of our eyes."

Vaughan Gething became the first Black leader of the Welsh Labour Party earlier this year but resigned after four months as the first minister of Wales after a wave of ministerial resignations in protest over his leadership.