BREAKING: Kemi Badenoch appoints Shadow Cabinet – from Priti Patel return to main Tory donor

New Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is appointing her Shadow Cabinet as the Conservative Party settles into life on the Opposition benches.

The former Business Secretary was appointed Conservative leader on Saturday, finally replacing Rishi Sunak after his historic defeat at July’s election. She beat Robert Jenrick after the pair made it to the final two in the Tory leadership race.

The new Leader of the Opposition is appointing her team ahead of their first Shadow Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Ms Badenoch said on Sunday that she would bring in people from all wings of the party to her team. She said she wanted a “shadow cabinet that is meritocratic, that brings in a diverse field of experience, geographic diversity, background, the sort of work experience, professional experience that the MPs had before they came [into parliament]”.

Here’s a breakdown of who is who in Ms Badenoch’s new Shadow Cabinet so far. This breaking news story is being updated.

Shadow Cabinet

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel makes a return to the frontbench as Shadow Foreign Secretary while former Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride has been appointed Shadow Chancellor. The pair had put their names into the hat to become Tory leader but were the first two to be knocked out of the race.

Former Tory minister Laura Trott has been appointed Shadow Education Secretary. The ex-Chief Secretary to the Treasury was one of the first to be given their role by Ms Badenoch so that she could respond to education questions in the House of Commons on Monday. Former health minister Neil O’Brien has been made a shadow education minister.

Former Financial Secretary to the Treasury Nigel Huddleston has been appointed joint Chair of the Conservative Party alongside Tory peer and donor Dominic Johnson – who ran a hedge fund alongside Jacob Rees Mogg. The latter has given more than £250,000 to the Tory party and was its vice-chair from 2016-2019.

Interim Chief Whip Stuart Andrew revealed he was being replaced by Essex MP Dame Rebecca Harris. Dame Rebecca, who has represented Castle Point since 2010, has been a whip since 2018.

They will join the new Tory leader at party headquarters on Monday morning to meet staff. In her first media appearance since that victory, she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that she would tell “hard truths” to the country and her party. But she drew criticism for suggesting that the Partygate scandal that saw Boris Johnson fined for breaking lockdown rules had been “overblown”.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spoken to Ms Badenoch following her election as Conservative Party leader. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman confirmed on Monday that the pair had spoken over the phone since Saturday’s announcement. The spokesman said: “I can confirm that he spoke to the Leader of the Opposition to congratulate her over the weekend.”