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Kemi Badenoch has named Mel Stride as her shadow chancellor and Dame Priti Patel as shadow foreign secretary as the new Conservative leader reached across the party’s political spectrum to fill key opposition posts.
Both Tory MPs had challenged Badenoch for the leadership, with former home secretary Patel knocked out first and ex-work and pensions secretary Stride knocked out second in the contest.
Stride went on to endorse James Cleverly, who was ejected from the race fourth, while Patel did not go on to endorse another contender.
Badenoch, who was elected on Saturday by Tory party members, views the pair as experienced parliamentarians who represent different wings of the party. Her choice is a symbol of her desire to unite the Tories, according to people familiar with her thinking.
The former business secretary won decisively over her final rival in the race, ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick, after taking 57 per cent of members’ votes.
Badenoch has indicated that she will offer Jenrick a “key role” in her front bench team, after paying tribute to his “energy and determination” — and noting that “we don’t actually disagree on very much”.
After the result was announced, Stride was quick off the mark to post his congratulations on social media, adding: “We owe it to the country we love to unite under your leadership and replace this dreadful government. Let’s get to work.”
Stride hails from the moderate wing of the Tory party and was influential in pressuring Liz Truss to reverse her disastrous “mini” Budget in 2022.
However, the same year he also called for maternity rights to be slashed as “a shot in the arm for British business”, an intervention that Labour insiders drew attention to and criticised on Monday. Badenoch herself appeared to echo similar sentiments at the Tories’ annual conference last month, suggesting maternity pay was “excessive”.
Patel, a staunch rightwinger and longtime ally of Boris Johnson, also praised Badenoch on X at the weekend, posting: “I look forward to supporting her in holding this dishonest and self-serving Labour government to account and in putting forward a Conservative vision for the future of our great county.”
Badenoch took more than 48 hours to announce the first of her most senior appointments, after insisting that she had not made promises of jobs to allies during the campaign.
On Sunday night it emerged that Dame Rebecca Harris, a low-profile MP with long-standing experience in the whips’ office, would become Badenoch’s chief whip.
Former investment minister Lord Dominic Johnson and ex-Treasury minister Nigel Huddleston were then appointed co-chairs of the party. One of their most pressing tasks will be to kick-start fundraising activities, as the party faces difficult financial circumstances.
Laura Trott, previously Treasury chief secretary, was made shadow education secretary, while ex-health minister Neil O’Brien was made a shadow education minister.
Her room for manoeuvre is limited in some senses by the raft of experienced ministers who have announced they do not wish to serve on the front bench.
Former home secretary Cleverly told the FT last week that he would be taking up a spell on the backbenches and would not accept a shadow ministerial post. Former prime minister Rishi Sunak and former chancellor Jeremy Hunt have made the same indication.
On Monday former Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell announced he was returning to the backbenches too.
The Conservatives suffered their worst-ever result at a general election on July 4, plunging from 365 MPs in 2019 to just 121 MPs. It is unclear how many positions Badenoch will appoint; she does not have enough MPs to match every role in the government payroll.
There are currently 124 Labour MPs on the payroll: 92 ministers, including whips, and 32 parliamentary private secretaries.
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