Kemi Badenoch holds first assembly of her Tory prime workforce TODAY as she arms defeated rival Robert Jenrick justice transient – making Mel Stride shadow chancellor, Priti Patel shadow international secretary and Chris Philp the Home Office

Kemi Badenoch will gather her shadow cabinet for the first time today as she moves to unite the Tories.

The new leader has given Mel Stride the key Treasury brief and signalled a stunning comeback for Priti Patel – who will be in charge of foreign affairs.

Meanwhile, defeated rival Robert Jenrick has agreed to become shadow justice secretary, and Chris Philp covering the Home Office. 

Close ally Laura Trott has responsibility for education, and Andrew Griffith the business portfolio.

The full line-up is due to be shown off for cameras around 10am, with Ms Badenoch underlining her determination to fix rifts in the party.

However, Ms Badenoch’s task has been made more difficult by having a paltry 121 Tory MPs to draw on – and big beasts such as James Cleverly and Jeremy Hunt announcing that they will not serve on the front bench. 

Yesterday she told Tory staffers that she believed the party could recover from the election drubbing in July in time to take on and beat Labour at the next election.

Kemi Badenoch will gather her shadow cabinet for the first time today as she moves to unite the Tories

The new leader has given Mel Stride (left) the key Treasury brief and signalled a stunning comeback for Priti Patel (right) – who will be covering foreign affairs

Meanwhile, defeated rival Robert Jenrick has agreed to become shadow justice secretary

‘She told them we can turn this around in one term,’ a source said. 

The new leader told staff to focus on next May’s local council elections as the first target on the road to recovery.

A source said both Ms Patel and Mr Stride are ‘experienced MPs’ who stood in the leadership contest and ‘represent different wings of the Conservative Party’.

They argued that the appointments ‘demonstrated Kemi’s desire to unite’. 

A friend of Ms Patel told MailOnline she was a ‘great’ appointment. ‘They’ve been chatting a fair bit and see eye-to-eye on a lot,’ they said. 

Rebecca Harris has been made chief whip, while Nigel Huddleston and Lord Dominic Johnson are joint party chairs. 

During the campaign Mr Jenrick criticised Ms Badenoch for a lack of policy.

Yesterday, she told staff that new policy positions would begin to emerge ‘soon’ but said it was right to ‘start with principles and the things that bind us as Conservatives together: freedom of speech, freedom of association, free enterprise, personal responsibility – what distinguishes us from all the parties of the Left who think more government is the answer to everything’.

She urged staff to think again about the way the party approaches politics after its worst defeat in history.

‘She told them they don’t have to do things the way they’ve always been done,’ a source said.

‘It’s time to try something different. She told them to let their creative juices flow.’

Tory insiders said Mr Jenrick had accepted the justice job after tense negotiations over exactly what role he should play.

An ally said: ‘Rob thinks the party needs to come together and take the fight to Labour. Unity could not be more important. He’s eager to expose Labour’s dreadful record on law and order.’

The role will involve him discussing the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights, where he and the new leader had differing views during the election campaign.

After today’s Shadow Cabinet meeting, Mrs Badenoch will begin preparing for her first clash with Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons tomorrow. 

She beat Mr Jenrick on Saturday by 53,806 votes to 41,388. 

Ms Badenoch’s ally Laura Trott has taken on the education brief 

James Cleverly has ruled out serving on the new leader’s front bench