Polls close in vote for Tory members to pick new leader

The polls have closed in the vote for the Conservative Party’s new leader, with Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick going head-to-head to replace Rishi Sunak.

The result will be announced on Saturday after a leadership contest that has lasted almost four months.

Mr Jenrick said the competition would be “close”, while Ms Badenoch tweeted that she had spent the morning calling members to make sure all votes were counted.

The contest was triggered when Mr Sunak announced he was standing down as party leader in the wake of the party’s election defeat in July.

The Conservatives returned MPs in 121 seats at the July poll, down hundreds on their 2019 result, having secured less than 25% of the vote nationally.

Dame Priti Patel, Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly also put themselves forward to lead the party, but were eliminated in a series of votes by Tory MPs to narrow the field down to the final two.

Former immigration minister Mr Jenrick has put leaving the European Convention on Human Rights at the centre of his campaign.

During the Conservative Party conference, he faced heat from other leadership rivals over claims he made about the UK’s special forces.

Nicknamed “Robert Generic” when first elected to the Commons in 2014, he has gradually moved to the right.

Ms Badenoch had several ministerial positions under Liz Truss and Mr Sunak and was business secretary before the Tories lost power in the July election.

She also held the women and equalities brief and made a name for herself as an outspoken voice on gender issues, including by calling for a change to the Equality Act so that sex is defined only as someone’s biological sex.

A survey of Tory members by the ConservativeHome website last week suggested Ms Badenoch had the lead, by 55% to 31%.

Donations to Mr Jenrick’s campaign totalled £480,000 and Ms Badenoch has received £422,500 over the course of the campaign, according to the latest Register of MPs’ Interests.