Kemi Badenoch Appoints Mel Stride And Priti Patel To Shadow Cabinet

Kemi Badenoch has promoted two MPs who stood against her in the past to the positions of new Shadow Chancellor and Shadow Foreign Secretary.

Badenoch promoted Mel Stride to Shadow Chancellor and Priti Patel to Shadow Foreign Secretary as she assembled a frontbench Conservative team considered to unite the party.

This decision comes after the promotion of Laura Trott to Shadow Education Secretary, who had played an important role in backing her campaign.

Stride was Work and Pensions Secretary under Rishi Sunak and had formerly been a Treasury Secretary and chairman of the Treasury Committee. He contested the Conservative leadership contest that saw Sunak emerge victorious as one of six contenders but was eliminated in the second round by Conservative MPs.

Ousted in the first round, Priti Patel has had a bumpy ride as minister. She remained Home Secretary only because Boris Johnson decided not to sack her after a formal inquiry uncovered bullying of civil servants.

In 2017, Priti Patel was forced to resign as International Development Secretary under the Theresa May government for unauthorized meetings with Israeli officials, professionals, and a lobbyist on a visit to Israel that she had claimed was a holiday.

A source close to Badenoch’s team said choosing Patel from the right and Stride from the center as former leadership rivals was evidence of Kemi’s desire to unite the party.

Badenoch, who took the leadership after beating Robert Jenrick in a ballot of Conservative Party members on Saturday, made Trott an appointment earlier on Monday so she could take Education Questions and respond to a government statement on the rise in university tuition fees.

Neil O’Brien, supporter of Jenrick’s failed leadership bid, was appointed as the deputy on the education team.

Badenoch appointed Rebecca Harris as Party Chair, alongside co-chairs Nigel Huddleston and Dominic Johnson.