Can Badenoch win back the East of England for the Tories?

Kemi Badenoch said leading the Conservative party was "the most enormous honour"

Local members of the Conservative party have expressed hope that their new leader can return them to winning form following their historic defeat in July's general election and a series of poor local election results.

Kemi Badenoch, who has been a Saffron Walden and then North West Essex MP since 2017, launched her leadership bid to replace Rishi Sunak in July.

The 44-year-old, who also challenged for the Tory leadership in 2022, admitted the task before her was tough.

The challenge facing her party is greater in the East of England than anywhere else in the country.

Before the general election, the Conservatives held every seat in Essex and nearly every other seat in the region.

Now Essex also has Labour, Liberal Democrats and Reform UK MPs as well as Tories. Across the region the party with the largest number of seats is Labour.

The Conservative vote was down more in the East of England than anywhere else in the country.

The seats that saw the largest fall in the party's vote anywhere in the UK were Clacton, down 44%, South West Norfolk, down 43%, Great Yarmouth, down 41%, and South Basildon and Thurrock, down by 40%.

Richard Holden, the new Conservative MP for Basildon and Billericay, holds his seat with a majority of just 20 - the smallest Tory majority anywhere in the country.

Badenoch got 53,806 votes to Robert Jenrick’s 41,388 - making it the closest Tory leadership race of recent times

Put simply, if Kemi Badenoch cannot get her party winning again in the East of England, the Conservatives will struggle to do well across the UK.

But her supporters say she can do it.

South Suffolk MP James Cartlidge said: "We've elected someone who I think will be the face of change.

"She will speak to those voters we've lost and the best way to do it is, as she has said, to be honest about the situation we're in as a party but also where we are as a country.

"She's got a spark, she cuts through with the public, she's got the energy [for the role] and I think we're in a really positive place."

James Cartlidge said Kemi Badenoch would be a face of change for the Tory party

Speaking on Politics East, Mike Steel, the deputy chairman of the North West Essex Conservative Association, said he was "extremely proud" Ms Badenoch had been selected as party leader.

He said: "She has integrity and she's very honest and forthright. She certainly isn't what you would call a populist.

"I quite admire the fact that she tells it like it is. She doesn't tell people what they want to hear if she doesn't agree with it and appeal to the populism movement.

"People that vote for her know exactly what they're getting."

Former Ipswich MP Tom Hunt said he was "excited for the future" under Badenoch's leadership

'Good for the region'

Tom Hunt, the former Tory MP for Ipswich who lost his seat this summer, said: "I thought we had the two strongest candidates in the final two.

"I found the last couple of weeks quite awkward because I was pro-Robert [Jenrick], but I'm also very happy with Kemi, who I backed in 2022.

"I think she gives us every chance of reconnecting with huge numbers of former Conservative voters who deserted us at the last election. She's fresh, she's interesting, she's authentic. I'm excited about the future."

Colin Noble, the chair of the East of England Conservatives echoed that sentiment.

"She'll be good for the region because she understands the region," he said.

The next general election is still more than four-and-a-half years away. But next year there are important local elections on our county councils that are dominated by Conservatives at the moment.

That will be the first big test for Kemi Badenoch's leadership.

Kemi Badenoch's first major test will be next year's local elections