Kemi Badenoch has finished assembling her new shadow cabinet ahead of its first meeting today, and while it may not set the world on fire the lack of one usual appointment may prove the most dangerous for Labour.
The names she’s appointed are a mix of big beasts and newbies. While she’s retained familiar and experienced names in top jobs, such as Priti Patel and Mel Stride, there’s been a notable shift to a younger generation of Tories.
In Rishi Sunak’s final cabinet, there were six members around the top table who were elected in either 2001 or 2005.
Under Kemi Badenoch, the oldest-serving shadow cabinet members only stretch back to 2010, while there has been a proportional increase in 2015 intake, as well as those elected in 2019.
Some of this will undoubtedly be down to a lot of the previous old hands having what were once safe Tory seats only to get ousted by an insurgent Lib Dem yellow wave in July, however younger MPs will also have benefited from being elected at the same time as their new party leader.
While the Conservatives announced the final line-up this morning – there was one glaring omission from the usual roll call: the lack of a deputy party leader.
This sparked tongues wagging – was she holding back Tom Tugendhat, who appears to have been snubbed, as a surprise? Was she going to give it to Red Wall favourite Ben Houchen?
No. I can reveal that Ms Badenoch is in fact not appointing a deputy Tory Party leader at all – a fascinating move that could wrong-foot Angela Rayner.
Ms Rayner takes the helm when Keir Starmer is away on foreign trips, most notably heading up PMQs on behalf of the government.
Unlike the previous Tory regime where she always faced off against Dominic Raab, she will now face a revolving list of top Tories, depending on what question topic they want to hammer the government on that week.
I’m told that Ms Badenoch is aiming for “flexibility” with this decision, and will certainly gain that by being able to pick the strongest performer to go up against the Mancunian Rottweiler.
While this move could prove genius, one other aspect of Ms Badenoch’s shadow cabinet appointments is raising concerns within the party.
Despite winning just one-third of the parliament party during the MP round, Ms Badenoch has appointed just three Robert Jenrick supporters – Mr Jenrick himself (shadow Justice), Victoria Atkins (shadow Environment), and Ed Argar (shadow Health and Social Care).
Some 11 of the 15 MPs who publicly backed Ms Badenoch at the outset of the contest are now in her top team.
This fact is already raising eyebrows in Tory circles, and even worse for the new party leader sparking unsettling comparisons to her female predecessor Liz Truss.
In 2022, Ms Truss began sowing the seeds of her downfall when she failed to appoint any of Rishi Sunak’s supporters to her Cabinet, with just one – Michael Ellis – getting a junior ‘attending Cabinet’ role.
The problem is that if all your enemies are outside the tent, when a rocky period comes they have no career incentive to support their leader. They may even start sending in letters, in the hope that a new leader who views them more favourably will take over and will put them in their top team.
Already a well-connected Tory source tells me: “Kemi won support from a third of the parliamentary party but has stuffed 80 per cent of the shadow cabinet with her supporters. It’s like Liz Truss all over again.”
Respected Tory commentator Tim Montgomerie echoes this, saying it’s “a little bit Liz Trussy for me.
“Surrounding yourself with allies doesn’t make you a strong leader.”
While she has undoubtedly prioritised loyalty, there is a key difference between Ms Badenoch and Ms Truss, in that she has secured ideological diversity at the top of the party.
There are right-wingers, not least in Ms Badenoch herself but also in Priti Patel, Chris Philp, Robert Jenrick and Andrew Griffith.
But there are plenty from the centrist One Nation faction, a group never admitted into Ms Truss’s clique, including Mel Stride, Laura Trott, Victoria Atkins and Nigel Huddleston.
One thing is for certain – Kemi Badenoch has refused to pick anyone for her top team who can outshine her.
