MPs from the 2024 intake are being appointed to the Conservative shadow cabinet as part of Kemi Badenoch’s reshuffle, The Spectator can reveal.
Rebecca Paul is to become shadow culture secretary, replacing Nigel Huddleston, while Harriet Cross takes Scotland. Both were elected in 2024 and have until now been serving in the Conservative Whips’ Office.
Katie Lam and Jack Rankin are names that keep surfacing in reshuffle chatter
Paul, MP for Reigate, comes from the private sector, having worked in tax for businesses and charities – a consultant at EY, then director of tax at Diageo. She is outspoken on trans issues and made her name picking apart the assisted dying bill from the bill committee.
Cross, the MP for Gordon and Buchan, ‘played a critical role’ campaigning in the winning Aberdeen South by-election, according to one party source. She is among the loudest voices for oil and gas in Parliament and has won plaudits for her performances in the Commons and on broadcast appearances.
I understand more is to come from the 2024 intake: Katie Lam and Jack Rankin are names that keep surfacing in reshuffle chatter. Andrew Bowie, the outgoing shadow Scotland secretary, is expected to be moved to another brief.
The Tories want to look like a refreshed party, and faces untarnished by previous governments are a clear way to show it. For a while those within CCHQ (Conservative Campaign Headquarters) and LOTO (Leader of the Opposition) were hesitant to appoint ‘newbies’ into the top rung for fear of lifting them up too quickly, but as one Tory source pointed out to me, appointing ambitious new figures proves the party is changing rather than just rebranding under Kemi Badenoch.
The Tory Leader has warm words for the departing shadow culture secretary Nigel Huddleston. Kemi Badenoch said: ‘Nigel has been an exceptionally hard-working and loyal member of my Shadow Cabinet, bringing enormous energy to the role and holding this disastrous Government to account for the damage it is doing across the media, sport and culture sectors. He has worked tirelessly to rebuild trust with businesses and organisations across his brief, and I am enormously grateful for the contribution he has made.’
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