In a recent reshuffle of her senior team, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has appointed Sir James Cleverly as shadow housing secretary.
The new role will see the former foreign and home secretary facing off against Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner in Parliament.
Announcing Sir James’s return to the front bench, Badenoch stated that her party was “moving into a new phase” and emphasized her desire to “make sure all our heavy hitters are on the bench”.
Other changes include the appointment of Richard Holden as shadow transport secretary, and Julia Lopez succeeding Alan Mak as shadow science secretary.
Additional moves confirmed by the party:
In a letter to Badenoch, Argar cited medical advice, stating he had “listened to what the doctors said to me… and have concluded that lightening my front bench workload over the coming months in order to complete my recovery and fully restore my health in that period, is the sensible approach”.
Badenoch acknowledged Argar’s service in her shadow cabinet, posting his resignation letter on social media, saying: “I want to put on record my sincere thanks to Ed Argar for serving in my shadow cabinet.
“I wish him the very best for a speedy recovery and return to full health.”
Announcing his decision to step back from the shadow cabinet, Alan Mak explained: “Despite the offer of an alternative role, I have decided to focus on constituency matters.”
Badenoch was initially expected to make minor adjustments to her frontbench team to replace shadow ministers stepping down for personal reasons.
However, the Conservative leader opted for a more extensive reshuffle, making around half a dozen changes, although no MPs from the 2024 intake were promoted to the shadow cabinet.
John Glen, a Treasury minister in the previous Conservative government, has been appointed Badenoch’s parliamentary private secretary, tasked with being her ‘eyes and ears’ in Parliament.
Lord Francis Maude, a cabinet minister from the Cameron era, will join Badenoch’s team as an unpaid advisor, occasionally attending shadow cabinet meetings and sitting on the party’s policy oversight committee.
Sir Mel Stride and Robert Jenrick will retain their respective roles as shadow chancellor and shadow justice secretary, alongside Chris Philp as shadow home secretary, and Dame Priti Patel as shadow foreign secretary.
Speaking to broadcasters, Badenoch described the reshuffle as “an opportunity to bring back a very very talented colleague in James Cleverly, and I’m thrilled he is taking on the shadow housing and local government brief”.
“Its about bringing back experience. James is a former foreign and home secretary, former party chairman he has a lot more experience that anyone on Labour’s front bench.”
Sir James has been a backbench MP since narrowly missing out on the Tory leadership election in October 2024, after which Badenoch defeated her closest rival, Robert Jenrick.
During his leadership campaign, Sir James advocated for the party to be “more normal” and recently cautioned against adopting Reform UK’s policies.
He has expressed reservations about the impact of leaving the European Convention of Human Rights, potentially putting him at odds with Badenoch, who recently launched a review into the UK’s membership of the treaty.
He was knighted in April 2025 as part of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list.
The reshuffle occurs eight months into Badenoch’s leadership, a period during which the Conservatives have consistently polled third or fourth, trailing Labour, Reform UK, and sometimes the Liberal Democrats.
In May, the Tories experienced poor results in the local elections, losing control of 16 councils.
In a June interview with the BBC, Badenoch said she was “going to get better” as leader, adding: “You don’t want people to be the very best they’re going to be on day one.”
She stated the Conservatives had “hit rock bottom” at the last general election and that her efforts to change her party was “not going to happen overnight”.
Labour Party Chair Ellie Reeves commented: “No amount of deckchair shuffling can hide that the architects of 14 years of Tory failure still sit around Kemi Badenoch’s top table”.
Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney stated: “Kemi Badenoch has appointed the very man who said that replacing Liz Truss as prime minister would be a terrible idea.”
Referencing Sir James’s defence of Truss during her government, she added: “it’s like appointing an iceberg apologist to a role steering the Titanic.”
The business secretary acknowledges concern about accommodating asylum seekers and housing shortages.
A cabinet minister said people on “modest” incomes will be protected from tax rises, but the Tories say ministers can’t explain who they are.
Conservative leader tells the BBC there needs to be a “crack down on people exploiting the system”.
The freeze means people risk being dragged into a higher tax band if they get a pay rise.
Ministers are scrambling to convince Labour MPs to back benefits cuts in a vote this evening.