EX-HOME Secretary Sir James Cleverly will make a shock comeback to Kemi Badenoch’s Shadow Cabinet reshuffle today.
The Tory chief is appointing her one-time leadership rival to Shadow Housing Secretary to take on Labour’s Angela Rayner.
AFPTory leader Kemi Badenoch will conduct a major reshuffle of her top team today[/caption]
PAEx-Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will rejoin the Tory front bench team[/caption]
In a bid to turn around dire polling, she is overhauling her top team just eight months into the job.
To make way for Mr Cleverly, Kevin Hollinrake is being moved to become Tory party chairman.
He will take over at Conservative HQ from Nigel Huddleston, who is becoming Shadow Culture Secretary.
Stuart Andrew is moving from the Culture brief to become Shadow Health Secretary, replacing Ed Argar who is stepping down for health reasons.
A Conservative source said: “The Leader of the Opposition will be making some changes to her front bench team today.
“The changes reflect the next stage of the Party’s policy renewal programme and underline the unity of the party under new leadership.
“Sir James Cleverly, is expected to return in a prominent front bench role to take the fight to this dreadful Labour Government.”
But it will also respond to months of devastating polling for the Conservatives – and the major threat of Nigel Farage.
A survey by YouGov this month found just 16 per cent of the public currently back the Tories, with Labour ahead on 24 and Reform in first place on 26.
Ms Badenoch will announce the full line-up of her new top team later today.
Analysis
By Jack Elsom, Political Editor
ALLIES of Kemi Badenoch are today claiming that her impending reshuffle is merely “the next stage of the Party’s policy renewal programme”.
In reality she is confronting a truth that has been apparent to many for some time: the current situation is not good enough and must change.
The Tories are consistently third in the opinion polls behind Reform and Labour, resulting in a recent annihilation at the local elections.
While several of her Shadow Cabinet have successfully been landing blows on the government, others have not even been at the races.
Ms Badenoch has consistently been clear that she cannot repair the Conservatives overnight, and that it will take time to rebuild trust with voters.
On this she has a point – think just how adrift Sir Keir Starmer was at this point in his stint as Opposition leader.
But overhauling her top team a mere eight months into the job is an admission that things are not going swimmingly.
In many cases she prioritised loyalty over talent, despite their still being a wealth of the latter on the Conservative benches.
It is hoped the return of James Cleverly will inspire party unity and galvanise a disillusioned moderate wing of the Tory grassroots.
Yet the problems run deeper than mere personnel changes, and require a serious strategy to stem the bleeding to Reform.
Nigel Farage is currently laughing all the way to the ballot box by addressing real concerns on immigration, crime and the economy.
If Ms Badenoch hopes to rebuild one of the West’s oldest parties, it will come from showing these voters she has a better plan.
Sir James served as Home Secretary between November 2023 and July 2024.
He was also previously Foreign Secretary, between September 2022 and November 2023.
He was knighted by ex-PM Rishi Sunak in the 2024 Prime Minister’s Resignation Honours “for political and public service”.
During the battle for leadership of the Tories, Sir James and Ms Badenoch publicly clashed in debates.
He has been a backbench MP since being eliminated from the leadership election in October 2024.
Ms Badenoch went on to defeat her closest rival, the now-shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick.
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