Kemi Badenoch has been elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party after pledging to “stand up” to the government by defending Israel.
The MP for North West Essex was elected with 57 per cent of the vote, defeating former immigration minister Robert Jenrick.
Throughout the contest, triggered by their party’s defeat at the general election, both candidates expressed support for the Jewish state and committed to fighting antisemitism.
In a letter written to Conservative Friends of Israel members last month, Badenoch said Britain should look to Israel for economic dynamism.
“When I visited Tel Aviv, I saw a thriving start-up nation that enriches and improves lives across the world, powering our own tech sector and providing drugs to the NHS,” she wrote.
Badenoch said that as business and trade secretary she had worked hard with her Israeli counterpart, Nir Barkat, to negotiate a UK-Israel Free Trade Agreement. The deal is yet to be completed.
The UK, Badenoch said, has seen a “deeply worrying” rise in anti-Jewish racism following the October 7 attack.
“We have seen people in this country use their views on Israel as an excuse to display antisemitism. We have seen this at protests on our streets and we see this in our universities. Those who glorify terrorism and celebrate the massacre of Jews have no place on our streets.”
Badenoch said she had witnessed Israeli grief and trauma but also “resilience and unity” on a trip to the country following the Hamas’s terror attack that saw 1,200 people killed.
“I met mothers whose children were stolen from them and taken to Gaza,” she wrote. “As a mother of three young children, it was harrowing to hear their stories.”
The British government was wrong to suspend arms export licences for weapons to Israel, she added.
“Labour had restored funding to Unrwa, and they’ve cowed to the mob at the ICC [International Criminal Court].”
In September, the government announced the suspension of around 30 licences after lawyers concluded there was a “clear risk” certain items might be used to violate international law.
Britain also dropped its opposition to a request by the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan KC, to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Speaking to the JC during the leadership election campaign, Badenoch compared the October 7 attack to the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls by Boko Haram, an Islamist group, in Nigeria.
The former trade minister said she did not agree with former Home Secretary Suella Braverman that pro-Palestine demonstrations were “hate marches,” however.
“Saying ‘hate marches’ was unhelpful, there are obviously people there who are motivated by hate, but there are also many people who are deeply misguided,” she said.
Badenoch – the first black leader of a major political party in Britain – was born in Wimbledon before moving to Nigeria with her family, where she grew up.
The future Conservative politician returned to Britain at 16 to study before taking an engineering degree at the University of Sussex.
She has described herself as a “net zero sceptic” and campaigned against “woke” ideology on gender and race.
In her acceptance speech, she said: “The task that stands before us is tough but simple . . . to hold this Labour government to account . . . to prepare over the course of the next few years for government.”
In a statement, the Board of Deputies said they wished to congratulated Badenoch on her “historic victory”.
“She has been a longstanding friend and ally of both the UK Jewish community and of Israel,” they wrote.
“We look forward to working with her on the key challenges and opportunities before the UK, British Jews, and wider society.”
The Jewish Leadership Council said: “We congratulate Kemi Badenoch on her election as leader of the Conservative Party. We have been pleased to work with her during her time in government and look forward to continuing that relationship in her new role as Leader of the Opposition.
“Thank you to Rishi Sunak for his strong support of our community during his time as leader of his party. We wish him and his family success for the future.”