Guido hears cash-starved CCHQ is going to take quite some time to furnish its newly-appointed Shadow Ministers with personal advisers. One Shadow Cabinet Minister tells Guido: “They’ve got to sort the money first.” The hope is that in six weeks to two months the Tories should find enough behind the sofa to hire some help…
The majority of previous Tory SpAds have of course alighted to the private sector. A Shadow Cabinet source says everyone is relying on CCHQ and CRD to help with briefs. In the meantime the Shadow Chancellor is writing his own parliamentary questions…
Gudio hears that hilariously some Shadow Ministers are planning on fundraising for cash to hire their own advisers. Labour would often complain in opposition that it didn’t have enough resources for their many PAds. The Tories would give an arm for that problem…
Kemi Badenoch has officially unveiled her Shadow Cabinet ahead of its inaugural meeting today, and it’s a staggering show of loyalty—20 out of 25 appointments were her supporters during the race. Only two, Victoria Atkins and Ed Argar, threw their lot in with Robert Jenrick, while three former leadership rivals—Jenrick, Mel Stride, and Priti Patel—managed to snag a spot. Tom Tugendhat, on the other hand, was left out in the cold, though his allies claim he chose the backbenches of his own accord…
It was slim pickings for Kemi, having to choose 21% of the Tory MPs to fill her Shadow Cabinet – all with an eye on avoiding the Tory big beasts who helped secure the party’s disastrous electoral defeat. Still, only five members have been MPs since 2010, while four were elected in the 2019 wave. Meanwhile, the Shadow Cabinet is only just on the pro-Brexit side, with 14 ministers firmly in the pro-Leave camp and 11 who backed Remain in 2016. Guido gives you a breakdown of when the MPs were first elected, alongside their 2016 EU stance:
Enough to unite the party?
The Tory Party membership has taken a nosedive, plummeting by almost a quarter in just two years, with numbers now down to a paltry 131,680. Meanwhile, Nigel Farage’s Reform Party is riding high, surging to over 95,000 members. Farage was quick to thank new Tory leader Kemi for the recent membership boost, saying:
“There’s going to be no change whatsoever [with Kemi]. We’ve gone up 1,500 in the last three or four days. And these are Conservatives who are hanging on to see whether the party could change direction. For us as a party, it’s very good news.”
Reform are now dangling a tempting prize for their 100,000th member: a pint with Reform MP Lee Anderson. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before Reform leave the Tories in the dust…
Shadow Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell now says he won’t serve in Kemi’s Shadow Cabinet:
“It has been an honour to serve under Rishi Sunak as Deputy Foreign Secretary and Shadow Foreign Secretary. But it is time to pass the baton! I look forward to continue serving my constituents in the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield. Kemi Badenoch will have my full support from the backbenches as she rebuilds the Conservative Party, exposes the terrible Labour government and sets us on a path to victory at the next general election.”
That’s another Sunak Cabinet member bowing out of Badenoch’s opposition. Sunak himself, Jeremy Hunt, James Cleverly, and Oliver Dowden have said they will sit on the backbenches. Not to mention Cameron ruling himself out…
Many wets will be reluctant to throw their weight behind Kemi. Some Tories have seen it as a waiting game since the final two were selected…
UPDATE: Steve Barclay won’t serve either.
James Cleverly has ruled out serving in the Shadow Cabinet under the next Tory leader. He told the FT: “I’m not particularly in the mood to be boxed back into a narrow band again.” On a future leadership bid or even a London mayoral run, he replied: “I’m not going to rule anything in or anything out.” Leaving the door open…
Parliament’s standards watchdog, the Independent Expert Panel, has slapped former Tory MP Aaron Bell with a reprimand over a “brazen and drunken” attack. The investigation found that Bell committed “serious sexual misconduct” by “abusing his position of power”, touching a woman’s left thigh, waist, and bottom without her consent in one of Parliament’s bars last December. No wonder he suddenly stood down from his seat in Newcastle-under-Lyme before the election…
Had Bell still been in the Commons, the panel made it clear that suspension “for a significant period” would have been on the cards. In a rather subdued response, Bell said, “I apologise for any upset caused to the complainant and wish to make it clear that I did not intend to cause any distress.” Bell’s end…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”