2024 Conservative Party leadership election

A Conservative Party leadership election was announced on 5 July 2024 when then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced his plans to resign as Conservative leader after the party's defeat at the 2024 general election.

The leadership race began on 24 July and lasted for over three months, with Rishi Sunak's replacement being confirmed on 2 November.

On 9 October 2024, after James Cleverly was eliminated on the fourth ballot, Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick advanced to the final round of the election.

Badenoch won the head-to-head and was elected Conservative leader on 2 November 2024.

## Timetable

|style="width:4em"|Date|Event|
| --- | --- | --- |
||Nomination period; potential candidates must gather the support of ten fellow Conservative MPs to qualify for the first MPs' ballot.||
||Conservative MPs vote in two ballots to reduce to four candidates.||
|29 September – 2 October|The Conservative Party Conference takes place, where each of the four remaining leadership hopefuls give a speech.||
||Conservative MPs vote in two more ballots, where candidates are reduced to two finalists.||
|10–31 October|An online ballot of the final two candidates takes place for all Conservative party members.||
|2 November|The result of the ballot is announced, and the winner subsequently becomes the leader of the Conservative Party.||

## Candidates

The following announced their leadership campaigns in the election.
|scope="col" style="width: 120px"|Candidate|scope="col" style="width: 150px"|Constituency|Current office|scope="col" style="width: 150px"|Former offices|scope="col" style="width: 150px"|Campaign|scope="col" style="width: 40px" !class="unsortable"|Ref.|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="border-right-style:hidden; background:lightgray;"||colspan="5"|The following candidates advanced to the final round of voting.||||||||
|Kemi Badenoch|Saffron Walden|Shadow Housing and Communities Secretary|Business Secretary Minister for Women and Equalities International Trade Secretary|Website <hr/> 28 July 2024|||||||
||MP for Newark|Backbencher|Minister of State for Immigration Housing and Communities Secretary|Website <hr/> 25 July 2024|||||||
|style="border-right-style:hidden; background:lightgray;"||colspan="5"|The following candidates were eliminated during several ballots of voting.||||||||
||MP for Witham|Backbencher|Home Secretary International Development Secretary|Website <hr/> 27 July 2024 4 September 2024|||||||
||MP for Central Devon|Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary|Work and Pensions Secretary Chair of the Treasury Select Committee Leader of the House of Commons|Website <hr/> 26 July 2024 10 September 2024|||||||
||MP for Tonbridge ;|Shadow Minister for Security|Minister of State for Security Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee|Website <hr/> 24 July 2024 8 October 2024|||||||
|||Shadow Home Secretary|Home Secretary Foreign Secretary Education Secretary Party Chair|Website <hr/> 23 July 2024 9 October 2024|||||||

### Declined

The following Conservative Party politicians were seen by commentators as possible candidates for the leadership but declined to stand:
- Victoria Atkins, Shadow Health Secretary (2024–present), Health Secretary (2023–2024), MP for Louth and Horncastle (2015–present) _(endorsed Jenrick)_
- Suella Braverman, Home Secretary (2022, 2022–2023), Attorney General (2020–2022), MP for Fareham and Waterlooville (2024–present); Fareham (2015–2024) and September 2022 leadership candidate _(endorsed Jenrick)_
- Claire Coutinho, Shadow Energy Secretary (2024–present), Energy Secretary (2023–2024), MP for East Surrey (2019–present) _(endorsed Badenoch)_
- David Davis, Brexit Secretary (2016–2018), Shadow Home Secretary (2003–2008), MP for Goole and Pocklington (2024–present, formerly Haltemprice and Howden and Boothferry 1987–2024) (_endorsed Badenoch_)
- Oliver Dowden, Deputy Leader of the Opposition (2024–present), Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2023–2024), MP for Hertsmere (2015–present)
- Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2010–2016), Leader of the Conservative Party (2001–2003), MP for Chingford and Woodford Green (1997–present, formerly Chingford 1992–1997) (_endorsed Badenoch_)
- Kevin Hollinrake, Shadow Business Secretary (2024–present), MP for Thirsk and Malton (2015–present) _(endorsed Badenoch)_
- Jeremy Hunt, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (2024–present), Chancellor of the Exchequer (2022–2024), Foreign Secretary (2018–2019), MP for Godalming and Ash (2024–present, formerly South West Surrey, 2005–2024), 2019 and September 2022 leadership candidate
- Laura Trott, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2024–present), Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2023–2024), MP for Sevenoaks (2019–present) _(endorsed Badenoch)_

### Multi-candidate polling

|Dates conducted|Pollster|Client|Sample size|Kemi Badenoch|James Cleverly|Robert Jenrick|Tom Tugendhat|Mel Stride|Priti Patel|Suella Braverman|Jeremy Hunt|Victoria Atkins|Esther McVey|Others|Don't know||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|3–4 October 2024|Conservative Home|_N/A_|784|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**32%**|25%|19%|12%|rowspan="4"|_Eliminated_|rowspan="5"|_Eliminated_|colspan="4" rowspan="11"|_Did not run_|–|12%|
|20–29 September 2024|YouGov|_Sky News_|802|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**27%**|16%|24%|16%|–|17%|||||||
|26–27 September 2024|Conservative Home|_N/A_|812|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**36%**|13%|25%|13%|–|13%|||||||
|11–16 September 2024|Popular Conservatism|_N/A_|501|34.9%|6.8%|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**38.3%**|5.6%|–|12.8%|||||||
|28 August–4 September 2024|Popular Conservatism|_N/A_|444|30.4%|5.2%|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**38.3%**|3.8%|2%|–|20.3%||||||
|2–3 September 2024|Conservative Home|_N/A_|863|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**34%**|11%|18%|13%|2%|7%|–|15%|||||
|14–19 August 2024|Popular Conservatism|_N/A_|512|28.2%|4.5%|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**28.4%**|3.9%|1.8%|17.4%|–|15.8%|||||
|6–15 August 2024|YouGov|_N/A_|903|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**24%**|14%|12%|16%|2%|11%|–|19%|||||
|2–12 August 2024|Techne|James Cleverly|805|14%|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**26%**|10%|11%|4%|20%|–|15%|||||
|5–8 August 2024|Conservative Home|_N/A_|917|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**33%**|10%|19%|10%|2%|8%|–|18%|||||
|31 July–5 August 2024|Popular Conservatism|_N/A_|468|23%|5%|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**24%**|3%|2%|21%|–|22%|||||
|10–11 July 2024|Conservative Home|_N/A_|995|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**26%**|9%|13%|13%|–|3%|10%|–|2%|1%|7%|16%|
|July 2024|YouGov|QMUL and Sussex University|725|style="background:#CCEBFF;color:black"|**31%**|10%|7%|15%|–|6%|16%|12%|2%|–|–|–|

## Results

|rowspan="2"|Candidate|colspan="2"|MPs' 1st ballot: 4 September 2024|colspan="3"|MPs' 2nd ballot: 10 September 2024|colspan="3"|MPs' 3rd ballot: 8 October 2024|colspan="3"|MPs' 4th ballot: 9 October 2024|colspan="2"|Members' vote: 10–31 October|||||||||||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="width: 170px; text-align:left"|Kemi Badenoch|22|18.6|28|6|23.5|30|2|25.2|**42**|12|**34.7**|**53,806**|**56.5**||||||||||||||
|style="width: 170px; text-align:left"|Robert Jenrick|**28**|**23.7**|**33**|5|**27.7**|31|2|26.1|41|10|33.9|41,388|43.5||||||||||||||
|style="width: 170px; text-align:left"|James Cleverly|21|17.8|21||17.6|**39**|18|**32.8**|37|2|30.6|colspan="2"|||||||||||||||
|style="width: 170px; text-align:left"|Tom Tugendhat|17|14.4|21|4|17.6|20|1|16.8|colspan="5"||||||||||||||||||
|style="width: 170px; text-align:left"|Mel Stride|16|13.6|16||13.4|colspan="8"|||||||||||||||||||||
|style="width: 170px; text-align:left"|Priti Patel|14|11.9|colspan="11"||||||||||||||||||||||||
|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"|Abstentions|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"|3|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"|2.5|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"|2|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"|1|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"|1.7|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"|1|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"|1|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"|0.8|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"|1|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"||scope="row" style="text-align:right;"|0.8|scope="row" style="text-align:right;"||scope="row" style="text-align:right;"||
<section end="Results"/>

## Infobox (election)

- **election name**: 2024 Conservative Party leadership election
- **type**: presidential
- **ongoing**: no
- **previous election**: October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election
- **candidate1**: **Kemi Badenoch**
- **image1**:
- **1data1**: **42 (35.0%)**
- **2data1**: **53,806 (56.5%)**
- **candidate2**: Robert Jenrick
- **image2**:
- **1data2**: 41 (34.2%)
- **2data2**: 41,388 (43.5%)
- **title**: leader
- **before election**: Rishi Sunak
- **after election**: Kemi Badenoch