Kemi Badenoch becomes first black woman to lead major European party

Kemi Badenoch became the first black woman to lead a major European political party as she was named Tory leader on Saturday.

Her victory over Robert Jenrick also made her the first black leader of a major UK political party, following Rishi Sunak’s milestone as the first Asian leader of one of the main parties.

She becomes the fourth female Tory leader, following in the footsteps of her political heroine Margaret Thatcher, as well as the more recent leaders Theresa May and Liz Truss.

Ms Badenoch will hope to last longer as Tory leader than either Baroness May or Ms Truss, who spent three years and 49 days respectively in charge of their party, compared to Mrs Thatcher’s 15 years in the role.

While 1922 Committee chairman Bob Blackman hailed her election as “another glass ceiling shattered”, Ms Badenoch herself made no mention of her race or gender in her victory speech, instead focusing on her task of charting a path back to power for her party.

While the Conservatives have had four female leaders, including three of their last five, the Labour Party has so far had no permanent female leaders.

Asked when Labour would have a female leader, party chair Ellie Reeves said: “We may not have had a female leader of the Labour Party, but on Wednesday we smashed an 800-year-old glass ceiling with the first-ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer to deliver a budget.”

The party also elected the first black leader of a European nation in Vaughan Gething, who served as First Minister of Wales for a scandal-hit four months.

While Ms Badenoch is the first black woman to lead a major European party, the first black leader of such a party was Harlem Desir, who served as leader of the French Socialist Party between 2012 and 2014.