Labour chair says most of Badenoch’s team had served under Truss or failed to condemn Johnson for Partygate
Tom Tugendhat is one of two Conservative leadership candidates not in the shadow cabinet. The other is James Cleverly, who said publicly last week he did not want a frontbench post. The other four candidates (Priti Patel, Mel Stride, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch herself, obviously) are all in the shadow cabinet.
But Tugendhat was not snubbed, Badenoch’s team are saying. He was offered a job, but turned it down.
Full shadow Cabinet has just dropped. Interesting that Tom Tugendhat has NOT taken up a role in Kemi Badenoch’s Shadow Cabinet. Appointments Chris Philp (Home), James Cartlidge (Defence), Kevin Hollinrake (Housing), Vicky Atkins (Environment), Andrew Griffith (Business) and Claire Coutinho (Net Zero).
No room for Suella Braverman in the shadow Cabinet either …
Looking at the names who are not there – James Cleverly, Oliver Dowden, Jeremy Hunt, Steve Barclay, Tom Tugedhat, Suella Braverman – it looks to me more like a shallow Cabinet rather than a shadow Cabinet. But it is four years until the next general election, and the Tory party is undergoing a shift to a new generation of frontbenchers, and all of these Conservatives have a chance to impress the electorate.
