Kemi Badenoch is to reshuffle her shadow cabinet on Monday, and is expected to install Tom Tugendhat as shadow foreign secretary to replace Priti Patel. Tugendhat, a former security minister, was a leadership candidate who had previously declined to join the shadow cabinet. Badenoch is also expected to replace James Cleverly, the shadow communities secretary, who has resigned from the shadow cabinet to run for London mayor.
Patel announced on Sunday night she would be leaving as shadow foreign secretary but said she would take on an “international role” with the party to build ties with other rightwing parties across the world. The Telegraph reported on Sunday that Tugendhat, who has been outspoken on China and Iran since returning to the backbenches, will be her replacement. In a statement, she said she wanted to also spend more time in her Essex constituency.
Other changes will include a replacement for the shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho, who will soon go on maternity leave with her second child. Coutinho had been widely tipped as Badenoch’s preferred candidate to eventually replace the shadow chancellor Mel Stride, who many Tories have said privately they believe is failing to make the necessary impact. Badenoch is also expected to find a new role for Julia Lopez, who had shadowed the now abolished science, innovation and technology department.
Helen Grant, the shadow solicitor general, has also asked to leave the shadow frontbench. Cleverly, who announced his run for London mayor on Sunday, denied he had quit the shadow cabinet following a shift to the right under Badenoch’s leadership. But the appointment of Tugendhat as shadow foreign secretary would bring a key voice from the party’s more centrist One Nation grouping into the fold, though Tugendhat is hawkish on foreign affairs.
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