Kemi Badenoch appoints Shadow Cabinet - from Priti Patel return to major Tory donor

Newly crowned Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has named her Shadow Cabinet as the diminished Conservative Party settles into life in Opposition.

The former Business Secretary was appointed Conservative leader on Saturday, finally replacing Rishi Sunak after he led his party to its worst ever election defeat. She defeated Robert Jenrick in a run-off vote by members.

Ms Badenoch appointed her full top team ahead of their first Shadow Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Ms Badenoch has said she will bring in people from different Tory factions - keeping her enemies close. She insisted she would offer jobs to all her rivals in the leadership race but former home secretary James Cleverly, who came third, has already ruled himself out.

Here's a breakdown of who's who in the new Shadow Cabinet so far.

Shadow Cabinet

Ex-Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel makes a return to the frontbench as Shadow Foreign Secretary while former Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride has been appointed Shadow Chancellor. The pair both ran to be Tory leader but were the first to be knocked out of the race.

Mr Jenrick, a former Security Minister who lost to Ms Badenoch in the final vote, was named as Shadow Justice Secretary. The pair locked horns during the final weeks of the race - with Mr Jenrick branding Ms Badenoch "disrespectful" to members for failing to spell out her key policies. She took a swipe at him by pointing out that she has “never been sacked” amid a "whiff of impropriety". Mr Jenrick was sacked as Housing Secretary by Boris Johnson in 2021 after a row over his role in a controversial £1billion housing development put forward by a Tory donor.

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An ally of Mr Jenrick said: "Rob thinks the party needs to come together and take the fight to Labour. Unity could not be more important." The appointments are understood to be an attempt to unite warring Tory factions. Dame Priti and Mr Jenrick are considered to be on the right of the party, while Mr Stride is from the more moderate 'One Nation' wing.

Former policing minister Chris Philp has been appointed Shadow Home Secretary. The 48-year-old held a number of government roles under Mr Sunak, as well as Liz Truss and Boris Johnson. He came under fire in April this year after he appeared not to know that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a different country to Rwanda on BBC Question Time.

Former defence minister James Cartlidge has been appointed Shadow Defence Secretary and Kevin Hollinrake has moved from the business brief over to the role of Shadow Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary. Ex-Science minister Andrew Griffith moves over to take the Shadow Business and Trade Secretary role and Alan Mak, a former junior business minister, is appointed Shadow Science Innovation and Technology Secretary.

Former prisons minister Ed Argar has been made Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, while the former Health Secretary Victoria Atkins has been moved from the brief and has been appointed Shadow Environment Secretary. Former Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho keeps her brief in the Shadow Cabinet, and will now act as Shadow Energy Secretary. Richard Fuller has been appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Across the UK, Andrew Bowie has the role of Shadow Scotland Secretary, as well as a shadow ministerial role in the Energy department. Mims Davies is Shadow Wales Secretary and Shadow Minister for Women and Alex Burghart is Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary as well as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Jesse Norman is Shadow Commons Leader, while Lord True is the Shadow Lords Leader.

Former health minister Helen Whately will become the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, while Gareth Bacon is appointed Shadow Transport Secretary and Stuart Andrew as Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary. Meanwhile, former Treasury minister Laura Trott has been appointed Shadow Education Secretary.

Nigel Huddleston, a former Financial Secretary to the Treasury, has been appointed joint Chair of the Conservative Party alongside Tory peer and donor Dominic Johnson - who ran a hedge fund alongside Jacob Rees Mogg. Lord Johnson has given more than £250,000 to the Tory party and was its vice-chair from 2016-2019.

Essex MP Dame Rebecca Harris has become the Tory party's Chief Whip. She replaces Stuart Andrew who was in the role on an interim basis. Dame Rebecca, who has represented Castle Point since 2010, has been a whip since 2018. Julia Lopez will also attend Shadow Cabinet meetings in her role as Parliamentary Private Secretary.

In her first media appearance since becoming Tory leader, Ms Badenoch told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that she would tell "hard truths" to the country and her party. But she drew criticism for suggesting that the Partygate scandal - that saw Boris Johnson fined by police for lockdown rule breaches - had been "overblown".

Speaking after her Shadow Cabinet was announced on Tuesday morning, Ms Badenoch said: “I am delighted to have appointed my Shadow Cabinet, which draws on the talents of people from across the Conservative Party, based on meritocracy and with a breadth of experience and perspective, just as I promised during the campaign.

“Our party’s problems will only be solved with a team effort, and I am confident my Shadow Cabinet ministers will deliver effective opposition as we seek to win back the trust of the public. We will now get to work holding Labour to account and rebuilding our party based on Conservative principles and values. The process of renewing our great party has now begun.”

Keir Starmer congratulated Ms Badenoch following her election as Conservative Party leader. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "I can confirm that he spoke to the Leader of the Opposition to congratulate her over the weekend.''