The 44-year-old member of parliament, originally from Nigeriais the fourth woman to take over the leadership of the Conservatives after ThatcherTheresa May and Liz Truss. The British media is focused on the difficult task he is undertaking.

It took around four months for the 131,680 registered members of the Conservative Party to decide who their new leader would be. In this succession race, six candidates wanted to take on this “difficult” task: Robert Jenrick, Cammy Beidenock, James Cleverly, Priti Patel, Mel Stride and Tom Tungenhat.

The first two proved to be the most resilient, making it to the end and eventually convincing 72.8% of members to go to the polls. But the victory was clear, as announced today at 11:00 local time by the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Bob Blackman: 53,806 votes for Bedenock to 41,388 for Jenrick.

The voices in the chamber – where the result was announced – were typical, as Beidenock has increasingly become the most desirable for the leadership among party members and MPs of late.

“It is the greatest honor for me to be elected as leader of the Conservative Party, a party that has given me so much” were some of the first words of Bedenock after her victory.

The voters are not convinced

But as happy as she is for this victory, British media and political analysts are focusing on the difficult task she has to undertake. They even speak of “double duty”, as the Telegraph newspaper typically writes. First, as emphasized, the main goal must be to rally the party. In a span of 14 years of Conservative rule, the party has changed six leaders, demonstrating the internal strife that prevails. Another example of this imbalance is the mere 121 Conservative MPs left in the new House of Commons, losing more than 250 in the July 4th national election.

Secondly, a key task for Beidenock emerges is the revival of hope for a possible path to victory in the next elections. Of course, this unquestionably leads to a third “task”: to win over the voters, to convince them that she is capable of changing the United Kingdom.

So far the public doesn’t seem to be convinced. A YouGov poll, published yesterday, found that 51% of voters felt the party was “currently out of touch with British reality”, while just one in six voters thought either Badenoch or Jenrick were fit to lead. .

The profile of the 44-year-old from Nigeria

Bedenock was born in London but raised in Nigeria, her full name being Olukemi Olufudo Antegoke. The surname, which she has now, is from her husband, Hamish Beidenock with whom they have three children. At the age of 16, he returned to the British soil, while he has a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Sussex. Her parliamentary career began in 2017, while she held ministerial positions in the last three Conservative Party governments.

In her victory speech today she stressed that the party “must be honest about the mistakes it has made”. Many blame Beidenock for mistakes she has made herself. Some of her statements and her general beliefs have caused a storm of reactions recently and are considered quite controversial.

For example, he called maternity pay “excessive”, arguing that people should “have a sense of individual responsibility”. It is recalled that the benefit a woman receives in the UK after giving birth is 90% of her salary for the first six weeks and then £184.03 for the remaining 33 weeks, with these amounts ranking Britain at the bottom of the relevant list of the OECD.

Controversial statements

At the same time, he told the BBC that “not all cultures are equally accepting”, giving as an example people who come from societies that “believe in child marriage” or where “women do not have equal rights”. In fact, she insisted on her point of view saying that “a number of immigrants who have recently reached British shores hate Israel. This feeling has no place in the country”, he added characteristically.

Shortly before the winner was announced, however, the Labor government said that “the Conservatives have learned nothing”, commenting that both candidates took part in 14 years of chaos under the Conservative government. Shortly afterwards, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, however, that “it is a proud moment for our country, the first black leader of a party in Westminster”.