What is the next Tory leader up against?
Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will have to unify warring factions and win back disillusioned voters – without alienating the centre ground

Voting in the Conservative Party leadership contest closes this evening, with Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick vying to become leader of the opposition.
Badenoch, the former business secretary, is the favourite to replace Rishi Sunak. Both her and former immigration minister Jenrick are on the right of the party – and neither are strangers to controversy.
After the surprise exit of former home secretary James Cleverly, the lack of an obvious centrist candidate means the race is "harder to pigeonhole", said Politico. While a right-wing candidate may appeal to party members, the same can't necessarily be said when it comes to an electorate that just handed Labour a historic landslide.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What did the commentators say?
Both candidates' messages seem designed to win back support from Nigel Farage's Reform UK, but with "significant differences" in their approach and policies, said The Independent.
Jenrick's warning that Farage risks "becoming unstoppable" if Reform does well in the local elections in May "should give Tories pause for thought", said Sherelle Jacobs in The Telegraph. He is betting on immigration as the "flashpoint issue on which the Tories must win back trust", framed in a way that will not "totally estrange" younger voters. In his words, the Conservatives must talk about migration in a way that "persuades rather than provokes". Canada's Conservatives, for example, call for immigration numbers to be linked to housing targets rather than "apocalyptically bellowing about migrant 'invasions'".
But Badenoch's "vow to heal a fractious Right" with a period of "renewal" is seductive. She believes the rise of Reform is a symptom of how conservativism has "morphed into much vaguer centrism". Her supporters believe the party's task, as it was after its 1997 defeat, is to "craft a single unifying idea that can repair the rifts between warring factions". Tony Blair, who led the Labour Party to that victory, agrees. "The most important thing for any political party is you've got to have clarity of direction," he told Politico's Power Play podcast.
But is Badenoch the one to repair those rifts? "The more people see of her, the more there is to dislike," said The Guardian's John Crace. However, she is undeniably "the real deal". "There's a purity to her nastiness. A seam of contempt that will almost certainly win her the contest."
Perhaps, but it won't necessarily win the next election, said the BBC. Many Tories are warning against "tacking to the right" and pursuing divisive issues like Jenrick's plan to leave the European Convention on Human Rights or Badenoch's "culture wars" around gender and race.
After all, Conservatives lost seats and voters to Labour and the Lib Dems, as well as Reform. A rightward swing could "permanently alienate more centrist former Conservative supporters", which the leader will need if they are to "restore their party's battered fortunes".
The "overwhelming majority" of voters don't care about internal party politics, said Connor Donnithorne, the Conservative candidate in Camborne & Redruth, who lost the seat to Labour. "You need to be in the common ground of British politics if you want to win." The Conservatives need to focus on issues such as "controlled immigration, lower taxes for working people, and supporting small businesses to create jobs".
"It's about having credibility, it's about being in touch with what people want and it's about delivering what you say you're going to deliver," he said.
What next?
The results of the leadership contest will be announced at 11am on Saturday, at a Conservative Party event in London.
Neither candidate has won support from a majority of MPs, so the winner will only have about a third of the parliamentary party backing them.
Whoever wins is by no means guaranteed to lead the party into the next election either, said Politico. Many Tories suspect the next leader "may not stay the course". A good result in next year's local elections will be crucial, but some are "already speculating that it could be Cleverly or even Boris Johnson" at the helm by then. There is still "plenty of time for yet another dramatic twist in the Tories' chequered fortunes".
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Harriet Marsden is a writer for The Week, mostly covering UK and global news and politics. Before joining the site, she was a freelance journalist for seven years, specialising in social affairs, gender equality and culture. She worked for The Guardian, The Times and The Independent, and regularly contributed articles to The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The New Statesman, Tortoise Media and Metro, as well as appearing on BBC Radio London, Times Radio and “Woman’s Hour”. She has a master’s in international journalism from City University, London, and was awarded the "journalist-at-large" fellowship by the Local Trust charity in 2021.
-
The state of Britain's Armed Forces
The Explainer Geopolitical unrest and the unreliability of the Trump administration have led to a frantic re-evaluation of the UK's military capabilities
By The Week UK
-
Anti-anxiety drug has a not-too-surprising effect on fish
Under the radar The fish act bolder and riskier
By Devika Rao, The Week US
-
Sudoku medium: April 21, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff
-
A running list of Trump's second-term national security controversies
In Depth Several scandals surrounding national security have rocked the Trump administration
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
How might Trump's tariffs affect the luxury goods market?
Today's Big Question Luxury clothes, cars and watches could take a hit in the coming months
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Could Trump's tariff war be his undoing with the GOP?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The catastrophic effects of the president's 'Liberation Day' tariffs might create a serious wedge between him and the rest of the Republican party
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Jewish communities are wary of Trump's push to punish antisemitism
IN THE SPOTLIGHT While the White House expands its effort to criminalize actions it deems harmful to Jewish Americans, not everyone in those communities are on board with the president's purported assistance.
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
'Mere availability does not ensure that it is used'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Is Elon Musk's DOGE job coming to an end?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Plummeting popularity, a stinging electoral defeat and Tesla's shrinking market share could be pulling the tech billionaire out of Trump's presidential orbit
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Trump's actions cut a wide swath across Hawaii's economy
In Depth The state's tourism and farming sectors are two of the largest hit industries
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Why are student loan borrowers falling behind on payments?
Today's Big Question Delinquencies surge as the Trump administration upends the program
By Joel Mathis, The Week US