Kemi Badenoch has beaten Robert Jenrick to become the new leader of the Conservatives.
It means she now faces the huge task of trying to return the Tories to power following their heavy general election defeat in July.
Her win marks the end of the prolonged four-month race to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the opposition.
Badenoch served as the business and trade secretary in the last government and has been the shadow housing secretary since the Tories were kicked out of Downing Street.
The MP for North West Essex raised eyebrows by claiming she is “very, very wary” of saying she wants to become the next prime minister because the job “changes your life forever”.
The race has become more acrimonious in recent weeks after Badenoch attacked Jenrick’s “integrity”.
Despite claiming to have “never” made any gaffes in public, Badenoch has also faced criticism for several controversies throughout her leadership campaign.
She bizarrely claimed that she had become working class at 16 after getting a job at McDonald’s.
On another occasion, Badenoch suggested not all “cultures are equally valid”.
During the Conservative conference, she also appeared to say that maternity pay is “excessive” before being forced to insist she meant the burden of regulation on business.
The MP has also been accused of endorsing a report which “stigmatised” autism, too.
Badenoch is expected to start assembling her shadow cabinet straight away, but it will not include former leadership candidate James Cleverly, who said he would be returning to the backbenches.
Former ministers Tom Tugendhat, Mel Stride and Priti Patel were all kicked out earlier in the contest having failed to secure enough votes from fellow Conservative MPs.
