UK Conservatives pick Kemi Badenoch as new leader, first Black woman to head a big British party

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative Party on Saturday elected outspoken lawmaker Kemi Badenoch as its new leader as it tries to rebound from a crushing election defeat that ended 14 years in power.

The first Black woman to lead a major British political party, Badenoch (pronounced BADE-enock) defeated rival candidate Robert Jenrick in a vote of almost 100,000 members of the right-of-center Conservatives.

She got 53,806 votes in the online and postal ballot of party members, to Jenrick's 41,388.

Badenoch replaces former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who in July led the Conservatives to their worst election result since 1832.

The new leader’s daunting task is to try to restore the party’s reputation after years of division, scandal and economic tumult, hammer Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s policies on key issues including the economy and immigration, and return the Conservatives to power at the next election, due by 2029.

“The task that stands before us is tough but simple,” Badenoch said in a victory speech to a roomful of Conservative lawmakers, staff and journalists in London. She said the party's job was to hold the Labour government to account, and to craft pledges and a plan for government.

Addressing the party's election drubbing, she said “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, 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," Badenoch said.

A business secretary in Sunak's government, Badenoch was born in London to Nigerian parents and spent much of her childhood in the West African country.

The 44-year-old former software engineer depicts herself as a disruptor, arguing for a low-tax, free-market economy and pledging to “rewire, reboot and reprogram” the British state. Like her rival Jenrick, she has criticized multiculturalism and called for lower immigration, though unlike him she has not demanded that Britain leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

A self-proclaimed enemy of wokeness Badenoch opposes identity politics, gender-neutral bathrooms and government plans to reduce U.K. carbon emissions. During the leadership campaign she drew criticism for saying that “not all cultures are equally valid,” and for suggesting that maternity pay was excessive.

Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the Conservative Party was likely to “swing towards the right both in terms of its economic policies and its social policies” under Badenoch.

He predicted Badenoch would pursue "what you might call the boats, boilers and bathrooms strategy .... focusing very much on the trans issue, the immigration issue and skepticism about progress towards net zero.”

While the Conservative Party is unrepresentative of the country as a whole — its 132,000 members are largely affluent, older white men – its upper echelons have become markedly more diverse.

Badenoch is the Tories’ fourth female leader, after Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May and Liz Truss, all of whom became prime minister. She’s the second Conservative leader of color, after Sunak, and the first with African roots. The center-left Labour Party, in contrast, has only ever been led by white men.

In a leadership contest that lasted more than three months, Conservative lawmakers reduced the field from six candidates in a series of votes before putting the final two to the wider party membership.

Both finalists came from the right of the party, and argued they could win voters back from Reform U.K., the hard-right, anti-immigrant party led by populist politician Nigel Farage that has eaten away at Conservative support.

But the party also lost many voters to the winning party, Labour, and to the centrist Liberal Democrats, and some Conservatives worry that tacking right will lead the party away from public opinion.

Starmer's government has had a rocky first few months in office, beset by negative headlines, fiscal gloom and a plummeting approval rating.

But Bale said that the historical record suggests the odds are against Badenoch leading the Conservatives back to power in 2029.

“It’s quite unusual for someone to take over when a party gets very badly beaten and manage to lead it to election victory," he said. "However, Keir Starmer did exactly that after 2019. So records are there to be broken.”

This story has been corrected to say Badenoch is the fourth female Conservative leader, not the third.

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch, left, embraces her husband Hamish Badenoch after being elected as the new leader of the opposition Conservative Party, in London, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch, speaks after being elected as the new leader of the opposition Conservative Party, in London, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch's husband Hamish applauds as she was announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members, at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Saturday Nov. 2, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch speaks after being elected as the new leader of the opposition Conservative Party, in London, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

FILE - Kemi Badenoch, Britain's Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade, Minister for Women and Equalities leaves after attending a cabinet meeting in Downing Street in London, on Jan. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch is congratulated by Robert Jenrick after being announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members, at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Saturday Nov. 2, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

FILE - Conservative leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch addresses members during the Conservative Party Conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

SYDNEY (AP) — Organizers said Friday that two Sydney to Hobart sailors have died at sea amid wild weather conditions that forced line honors favorite Master Lock Comanche to withdraw among mass retirements.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney, which administers the yacht race, has said that one sailor each on entrants Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline were killed after being struck by the boom, a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail.

The race will continue as the fleet continues its passage to Constitution Dock in Hobart, with the first boats expected to arrive later on Friday or early Saturday morning. The race is 628 nautical miles (722 miles, 1,160 kilometers) long.

David Jacobs, vice-commodore of the CYCA, said the race would “absolutely” continue.

"The conditions are challenging, but they’re not excessive,” he said. “So we’ve got sort of winds at about 25 knots coming from the north seas around about two meters or thereabouts, so the conditions that most of the sailors would normally easily handle.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the sailors who died.

“We have sadly awoken to tragedy in the Sydney to Hobart with the awful news two sailors have lost their lives,” he said. “Our thoughts are with the crews, their families and loved ones at this deeply sad time.”

The incident aboard Flying Fish Arctos occurred around 30 nautical miles east-southeast of Ulladulla on the New South Wales south coast. Crew members attempted CPR but could not revive their teammate.

The crew member aboard Bowline was struck approximately 30 nautical miles east/north-east of Batemans Bay and fell unconscious, with CPR also unsuccessful.

A police vessel was escorting Bowline to Batemans Bay, where she is expected to arrive later Friday morning.

“As these incidents are being dealt with by the Water Police and all family members are yet to be contacted, we cannot provide further details at this stage,” the CYCA said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the crews, family and friends of the deceased.”

Flying Fish Arctos, a New South Wales-based 50-footer, has contested 17 previous Hobarts since being built in 2001. The boat was designed for round-the-world sailing and is currently used by Flying Fish, a sailing school that operates in Mosman, a suburb on Sydney’s north shore.

The deaths come 26 years after six sailors were killed in storms during the 1998 running of the race, which triggered a state coronial inquest and mass reforms to the safety protocols that govern the race.

The first all-Filipino crew of 15 sailors was entered in the 2024 race, but was among about 15 retirements because of the weather. With veteran sailor Ernesto Echauz at the helm, Centennial 7 was one of six international entrants and includes sailors from the Philippines’ national team and the Philippines navy.

Last year, LawConnect won line honors after holding off defending champion Comanche by less than a minute in an exciting finish between the super maxis. LawConnect, which was runner-up in the last three editions of the race, finished in 1 day, 19 hours, 3 minutes, 58 seconds. Comanche’s time was 1 day, 19 hours, 4 minutes, 49 seconds — a margin of just 51 seconds.

It was the second-closest finish in Sydney to Hobart history after Condor of Bermuda beat Apollo by seven seconds in 1982.

Comanche holds the race record of 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes, 24 seconds, set when it won in 2017.

LawConnect, which led out of Sydney Harbor, was leading the 2024 race but still had 400 nautical miles before reaching Hobart, indicating a finish overnight Friday night. Celestial V70 is in second place, about 10 nautical miles behind LawConnect.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Skipper of Philippines entry Centennial, Ernesto Echauz, center, gestures with his crew ahead of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

Master Lock Comanche sails out of the heads soon after the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney Harbour, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP).

In this photo provided by Salty Dingo, Philippines entry Centennial sails towards the heads after the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

LawConnect competes at the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney Harbour, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Mark Evans/AAP Image via AP).

Competitors sail out of the heads following the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Mark Evans/AAP Image via AP).

Master Lock Comanche, left, and LawConnect sail out of the heads following the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Mark Evans/AAP Image via AP).

In this photo provided by Rolex, competitors sail towards the heads as they leave Sydney Harbour at the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex via AP)