Kemi Badenoch Is New Leader of U.K. Conservative Party

Kemi Badenoch was elected as leader of the Conservative Party on Saturday following four months of debate after former head Rishi Sunak said he’ll stand down from the role.

Sunak’s decision to resign as party leader came in the wake of Labour’s landslide victory in the recent general election. Badenoch defeated Robert Jenrick for the role.

While the Conservatives have in the past been crypto-friendly – proposing measures to ensure crypto would be regulated as a financial activity and saying they wanted the country to be a crypto-hub – the digital asset sector did not come up during the leadership fight for the party.

“Neither [Badenoch nor Jenrick] have been particularly vocal (positive or negative) on their stance on crypto, tech, finance or payments innovation,” said Su Carpenter, executive director of lobby group Crypto UK, ahead of the results.

Badenoch has not publicly discussed her views on crypto. In the run up to the results, she advocated for a new controversial integration strategy for those crossing into Britain. She is the Conservative member of parliament for North West Essex and was the shadow secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, a role which required her to question and challenge the Labour government.

When the Conservatives were in government, she held several ministerial roles including secretary of state for business and trade and has in the past described financial services as a key part of the economy and urged for regulation to not be burdensome.