Kemi Badenoch clings on to safe Tory seat as she's tipped for leadership bid
The senior Conservative was fighting to hold on to her traditionally safe Essex constituency.
Kemi Badenoch has won her North West Essex seat on a bruising night for the Tories.
The Business and Trade Secretary was fighting for re-election in the redrawn North West Essex seat, which was previously Saffron Walden.
Ms Badenoch received 19,360 votes to Labour candidate Issy Waite’s 16,750.
It comes after Ms Badenoch, who had a 27,594 majority in 2019, did not rule out a tilt for the Tory leadership earlier this month.
The senior Conservative, widely seen as a frontrunner to replace Rishi Sunak, previously insisted that "we will talk about leadership things after an election".
Ms Badenoch was asked about her own intentions at a debate hosted by the Institute of Directors and Bloomberg.
She said there was "no better job" than Business and Trade Secretary, which "is a lot easier and a lot less pressured than being prime minister".
Ms Badenoch, who ran for the party leadership in 2022, continued: "The fact of the matter is, I stood and I lost. And what terrifies me now is not not becoming leader, it is seeing Labour come in."
She added: "This is one of the things that I've found most difficult doing this job, that people tend not to know what it is, because I'm always asked the leadership question. We're so interested in the personalities, in the gossip and so on...
"We need to focus on this election. The choice is going to be between us or between them. Be afraid if it is them, is all I would say. And we will talk about leadership things after an election, but not before."
