Badenoch’s new shadow cabinet to gather for first meeting
The new Opposition leader is expected to name her full shadow cabinet on Tuesday.
Kemi Badenoch will hold her first shadow cabinet meeting on Tuesday after filling her new senior team with three former leadership rivals in a bid to unite the opposition front.
Robert Jenrick has accepted a role as shadow justice secretary while Dame Priti Patel will serve as shadow foreign secretary and Mel Stride as shadow chancellor, it is understood.
All three ran as candidates against Ms Badenoch in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak.
The appointments to the opposition frontbench are an effort to unite different factions of the Conservative Party after a long internal election battle, it is understood.
Ms Badenoch earlier named Laura Trott shadow education secretary and Tory former minister Neil O’Brien shadow education minister, who both appeared in their new roles in the Commons at education questions on Monday.
Shadow cabinet ministers – most of whom are yet to be named – will gather for their first meeting under the new leader on Tuesday.
Castle Point MP Dame Rebecca Harris has been tipped as the expected choice for the new chief whip, while Nigel Huddleston and Lord Dominic Johnson have been made joint chairmen.
Ms Badenoch has told Tory staff that Mr Huddleston and Lord Johnson have been appointed due to their broad experience within the party, it is understood.
Other potential frontbenchers include former energy security secretary Claire Coutinho and interim shadow culture secretary Julia Lopez.
In an address to Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) staff on Monday morning, Ms Badenoch identified winning back council seats at local elections as the first challenge the party faces.
She is also understood to have said the party can turn their situation around in one term and that policy will come soon, but the party needs to start with principles such as freedom of speech and personal responsibility.
Ms Badenoch is expected to name her full shadow cabinet team ahead of their first meeting on Tuesday.
The announcement of the new shadow cabinet follows Ms Badenoch’s victory over fellow finalist former immigration minister Mr Jenrick in the Tory leadership race on Saturday.
In her first media appearance since that victory, she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that she would tell “hard truths” to the country and her party.
She also drew criticism for suggesting the so-called partygate scandal that saw Boris Johnson fined for breaking lockdown rules had been “overblown” while insisting it was time to “draw a line under all that happened over the last 14 years”.
