UK politics live: Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet revealed as former rival Tom Tugendhat ‘snubs role’

Top roles for Priti Patel, Mel Stride, Chris Philp and Robert Jenrick as new shadow cabinet revealed

Moment Kemi Badenoch is announced as new Tory leader to replace Rishi Sunak

New Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has unveiled her shadow cabinet, with senior roles for Priti Patel, Chris Philp and leadership rival Robert Jenrick.

After a combative leadership contest, Mr Jenrick – a staunch advocate of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights – was handed the justice brief, while Mr Philp was appointed shadow home secretary, Ms Patel given foreign affairs, and Mel Stride made shadow chancellor.

While ex-security minister Tom Tugendhat was among senior Tories notably absent from the new shadow cabinet, sources insisted he had turned down a role, rather than been snubbed.

As Ms Badenoch demanded a “team effort” to end her divided party’s strife, one anonymous senior Tory contacted the BBC to say that her appointment of Dame Priti had effectively “destroyed within 48 hours any chance she had of having a respectable foreign policy”.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer was also facing a backlash over plans to raise university tuition fees for the first time in eight years, a decision which one union labelled “economically and morally wrong”.

Key Points

• Kemi Badenoch unveils new Tory shadow cabinet
• Tom Tugendhat absence from top team ‘not a snub’, Tory source says
• Keir Starmer rejects calls for immigration powers to be devolved in Scotland
• Tobacco and vaping legislation to be introduced
• Backlash over ‘morally wrong’ hike in university tuition fees

[5 November 2024 09:39 · Andy Gregory]

Badenoch vows she will ‘win back trust of the public’

Kemi Badenoch has insisted she will “win back the trust of the public”, as she announced her shadow cabinet.

The new Tory leader said: “I am delighted to have appointed my shadow cabinet, which draws on the talents of people from across the Conservative Party, based on meritocracy and with a breadth of experience and perspective, just as I promised during the campaign.

“Our party’s problems will only be solved with a team effort, and I am confident my shadow cabinet ministers will deliver effective opposition as we seek to win back the trust of the public.

“We will now get to work holding Labour to account and rebuilding our party based on Conservative principles and values. The process of renewing our great party has now begun.”

(Conservative Party)

[5 November 2024 09:35 · Andy Gregory]

New Tory co-chair says he must rebuild party’s record low membership

The Conservative Party’s new co-chair has said he needs to build the party’s membership, which has significantly declined.

Nigel Huddleston was asked about Reform UK reporting it has 95,000 members, while the Tory leadership election results on Saturday showed the party had 131,680 Tory members eligible to vote – a record low.

He told LBC: “One of my roles is to grow the membership base, and I understand why people have joined Reform, but I say if you want change in Britain, you need to join the Conservative Party, because we will be the ones who hopefully will form the next government.”

He added: “I think when we we’re able to articulate our policy platform, it resonates with large numbers of people across the country, including millions of people who maybe voted Reform at the last election, we need to make sure that they can come back to the Conservatives, and we want to be clear that they have a home here because we share their values.”

[5 November 2024 09:30 · Andy Gregory]

New Tory shadow cabinet revealed in full

Here is the full list of appointees:

• Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer: Mel Stride MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs: Dame Priti Patel MP
• Shadow Home Secretary: Chris Philp MP
• Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland: Alex Burghart MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Defence: James Cartlidge MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Justice: Robert Jenrick MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Education: Laura Trott MP
• Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary: Ed Argar MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Kevin Hollinrake MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Victoria Atkins MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade: Andrew Griffith MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and Shadow Minister for Equalities: Claire Coutinho MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: Helen Whately MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Transport: Gareth Bacon MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport: Stuart Andrew MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology: Alan Mak MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Shadow Minister of State for Energy and Net Zero: Andrew Bowie MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Wales and Shadow Minister for Women: Mims Davies MP
• Opposition Chief Whip (Commons): Dame Rebecca Harris MP
• Shadow Leader of the House of Commons: Jesse Norman MP
• Shadow Leader of the House of Lords: Lord True
• Co-Chairmen of the Party: Nigel Huddleston MP & Lord Johnson
• Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Richard Fuller MP
• Also attending:
• Parliamentary Private Secretary: Julia Lopez MP

[5 November 2024 09:27 · Andy Gregory]

Kemi Badenoch unveils new Tory shadow cabinet

Kemi Badenoch has unveiled her shadow cabinet, with senior roles for leadership rival Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel and Chris Philp.

After a combative leadership contest, Mr Jenrick – a staunch advocate of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights – was handed the justice brief, while Mr Philp was appointed shadow home secretary, Ms Patel given foreign affairs, and Mel Stride made shadow chancellor.

As announced yesterday, Laura Trott is now shadow education secretary, while Helen Whately will take work and pensions, and Ed Argar was given health.

[5 November 2024 09:27 · Millie Cooke, Political Correspondent]

Ministers have been ‘working hard’ to ensure UK-US ties remain strong regardless of election outcome

Health secretary Wes Streeting has said the government has been working hard to ensure that, whoever wins the presidential election, “the deep ties that bind our two nations are as strong as they have ever been”.

While he admitted that the Labour government “may not be ideological bedfellows with President Trump”, the government will “work with whoever” the American people choose.

“I think that is particularly important in a world in which we see war on the continent of Europe, in Ukraine, war in the Middle East, wider geopolitical risks and threats where the US and the UK have common history, but also common cause in terms of the future we want to build, in the future of democracy.

“The American people will decide who their president is and we will work with whoever they choose”, he told LBC.

[5 November 2024 09:14 · Andy Gregory]

How Starmer is preparing for a new US president

Since becoming prime minister on 5 July, Sir Keir Starmer has only met with one of the two candidates hoping to be elected president – and it was not with his natural Democrat ally Kamala Harris, but Republican rival Donald Trump.

The lack of a meeting between Ms Harris and Sir Keir was not a snub from either side but reflects a twin-track approach that Labour has been taking in preparing for the outcome tomorrow for many months now, dating back to when they were still in opposition.

Our political editor David Maddox reports:

[5 November 2024 09:00 · Andy Gregory]

Government has dropped plans to ban smoking in pub gardens, Wes Streeting confirms

The government has dropped plans to ban smoking in outdoor areas such as beer gardens and outside stadiums as part of an extended smoking ban after those plans were leaked to the media, Wes Streeting has confirmed.

The health secretary told GB News: “We’ve got to balance the upside benefits on public health with any potential negative ... either on people’s liberties or on people’s livelihoods.

“And it’s no secret that the hospitality sector has been ... through the mill in recent years. The impact of the pandemic, the challenges in the wider economy, the amount of money we’ve got spare in our pockets.

“And there aren’t many advantages to leaks of government discussions, but one of the advantages of this leak was that it’s meant we’ve been able to have a discussion with the hospitality sector.

“And based on the evidence on the upside risks and the arguments on the downside risks, we’ve chosen not to proceed with the outdoor hospitality proposal at this time.”

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill – which will be introduced to the Commons on Tuesday – still aims to stop smoking and vaping outside schools and children’s playgrounds, he said.

[5 November 2024 08:55 · Andy Gregory]

‘Immense talent’ in Tory party for Badenoch to utilise, co-chair insists

Tory co-chair Nigel Huddleston has said he expects Kemi Badenoch could double up on positions and appoint “new talent” to make sure the opposition can shadow the government with a drastically reduced number of MPs.

Asked how the party would be able to cover and shadow with its 121 Conservative MPs when there are 124 positions in the government, he told Sky News: “Well, we will cover it because we’ve got immense talent in the Conservative Party.

“It’s not uncommon. For example, when I was in government, a couple of times, I was both a whip and a minister, and that happens as well.

“So actually, you don’t need quite the number that you might imagine in terms of coverage, and we’ve got some very competent people who can often do two jobs. But the key thing is, we’ve also got some new talent as well in the party.

“We’ve got 28 new MPs, some of whom you’ve seen deliver the most amazing maiden speeches and bringing great experience. And I suspect that some of those will be in the government as well.”

[5 November 2024 08:44 · Andy Gregory]

Politics Explained | Can Keir Starmer succeed in reducing immigration?

Keir Starmer has announced that the government is to make further progress on its manifesto pledge to “smash the criminal gangs” and reduce the flow of irregular migration in small boats across the English Channel.

At the Interpol General Assembly in Glasgow – complete with pipe band and more than 1,000 police officers from 196 nations – the prime minister reiterated his motivation and determination: “There is nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the Channel.”

His idea is to raise the importance of the issue: “People-smuggling should be viewed as a global security threat similar to terrorism.”

In this Politics Explained piece, The Independent’s associate editor Sean O’Grady looks at whether the prime minister can actually make a difference without a major deterrent to illegal crossings:

[5 November 2024 08:30 · Andy Gregory]

Wes Streeting responds to Sir Chris Hoy’s call to lower prostate cancer screening age

Health secretary Wes Streeting has responded after Sir Chris Hoy suggested that “potentially millions of lives” can be saved if the screening age for prostate cancer is lowered.

The six-time Olympic cycling champion revealed last month that his cancer is terminal after he first made public in February that he was undergoing treatment, including chemotherapy. A tumour was found in Hoy’s shoulder and a second scan found primary cancer in his prostate, which has metastasised to his bones.

Asked about the call on BBC Radio 4’s Today progamme, Mr Streeting said: “I think he makes a very compelling case. I’ve asked the NHS to look at whether we are currently in the right place when it comes to screening.

“So that’s something that we’re actively looking at, and one of the many reasons why Chris Hoy’s openness about his own experience with cancer, his family’s experience with cancer, I think has been so impactful.”