Kemi Badenoch bids to reunite Tories with shadow cabinet appointments

New Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has signalled her intention to reunite the party by appointing Mel Stride as shadow chancellor and Dame Priti Patel as shadow foreign secretary.

The two former Tory leadership candidates are the first appointments Ms Badenoch has made to shadow the so-called “great offices of state”: the Foreign Secretary, Chancellor and Home Secretary.

Dame Priti and Mr Stride were both early rivals of Ms Badenoch during the Tory leadership contest.

It is understood the pair’s appointment to the opposition frontbench is an effort to unite different factions of the Conservative Party following the long internal election battle.

Newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, leaves party headquarters in Matthew Parker St, central London | PA

The new Conservative leader insisted she would offer all her rivals in the race roles in her shadow cabinet, but former home secretary James Cleverly has already ruled himself out from such a job.

Ms Badenoch had earlier named Laura Trott as her shadow education secretary and Tory former minister Neil O’Brien as a shadow education minister.

It was reported on Sunday that Essex MP Dame Rebecca Harris would become the party’s new chief whip, while Nigel Huddleston and Lord Dominic Johnson have been made joint chairmen.

It is understood Ms Badenoch has told Tory staff that Mr Huddleston and Lord Johnson have been appointed due to their broad experience in the party.

Andrew Griffith, a former Treasury minister, had been tipped for the role of shadow chancellor before Mr Stride’s appointment was announced.

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, it is thought Ms Badenoch said the first challenge for the party will be winning back council seats at local elections.

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 former immigration minister Robert 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 drew criticism for suggesting the so-called partygate scandal that saw Boris Johnson fined for breaking lockdown rules had been “overblown”.

Scottish Conservative leader RussellFindlay revealed he backed Kemi Badenoch in the Tory leadership contest.

Mr Findlay said he did not back any candidates publicly as, at one point, there were six and it “seemed sensible as the newly elected leader in Scotland to keep out of it and allow that process to take place”.

However, speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Monday, he revealed that he voted for Ms Badenoch.

He said: “I voted for Kemi. I think she’s a woman of great integrity. I really admire her tenacity, I really admire the fact she isn’t afraid to say it how she sees it.

“And if that sometimes upsets people, so be it. I think people are probably a little bit sick of politicians who sit on the fence and try and be very clever with their words and I think she’s hugely refreshing.

“I think people in Scotland will see that authenticity about her.”