KEMI Badenoch paid tribute to leadership contest rival Robert Jenrick in her first speech since becoming the new Conservative Party leader, and took aim at Keir Starmer saying he's discovering the “perils of not having a plan”.

Badenoch was announced as the new Tory leader on Saturday following a three-month-long leadership contest to replace Rishi Sunak.

The MP for North West Essex received more than 53,000 votes to Jenrick’s 41,000 as she thanked the party’s chair, Richard Fuller, and other members in her first speech as the new leader.

She said: “It is the most enormous honour to be elected to this role, to lead a party that I love, the party that has given me so much.

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“I hope that I will be able to repay that debt.”

She went on to thank her husband, Hamish Badenoch, and Sunak along with paying tribute to her rival, Jenrick.

She said: “We have all been impressed by your energy and your determination.

“You and I know that you actually disagree on very much, and I have no doubt that you have a key role to play in our party for many years.”

(Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

Badenoch went on to say the party has a tough but simple job, of keeping the Labour Government to account.

She said the UK Government needs, not just clear “Conservative pledges that appeal to the British people”, but also, “a clear plan to change this country by changing the way that government works”.

The new party leader claimed Starmer is “discovering all too late the perils of not having a plan”.

(Image: PA)

Badenoch concluded her speech by saying it's time to reset “our politics” and give the country a “new start”.

She added: “Time to get down to business, time to renew.”