Today is the day that Kemi Badenoch settles all family business. A Tory reshuffle that was expected to be small in scale has become nothing less than a complete reboot. Priti Patel, James Cleverly and Stuart Andrew have left the frontbench, with Tom Tugendhat arriving. But the biggest change of all is Sir Mel Stride stepping down from Shadow Chancellor after nearly two years. He is replaced by Andrew Griffith, with Claire Coutinho becoming his deputy and taking up the Business brief. The Treasury team is being rebranded as the ‘Economic leadership team’ with Richard Fuller focused on fiscal discipline as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Julia Lopez will cover for Coutinho, who is on maternity leave until the New Year. Other members of the shadow cabinet will support the economic unit depending on the policy area like Helen Whately on welfare.
Sir Mel Stride did not really put a foot wrong as Shadow Chancellor, but nor did he really spark many headlines
Sir Mel did not really put a foot wrong as Shadow Chancellor, but nor did he really spark many headlines. Solid, dependable, likeable, he seemed to some Tories to be something of an analogue politician in a digital age. He was good in the House and able at glad-handling business, as a former entrepreneur himself. But with the Tories now fighting for survival, they need to be further ahead on economic credibility, the party’s traditional trump card. That is why Griffith, a longtime Badenoch backer who many expected to get this post in 2024, has finally been handed the role. He is the only Member of Parliament to have been head of a FTSE100 company, having served as chairman of Just Eat and COO of Sky. Griffith has a prominent online presence and has worked hard to brand Labour‘s trade union legislation as the ‘Unemployment Rights Act.’
Badenoch is keen to show that she has not enjoyed wielding the knife. Journalists have been sent a series of sorrowful quotes, emphasising her reluctance to sacrifice Stride.
‘He brought experience, seriousness and stability when those things were badly needed’, she says. ‘He helped us steady the ship, rebuild economic credibility and become an effective opposition, and I am genuinely grateful for his contribution.’
Today’s shake up suggests she sees a revitalised economic team as being key to a wider party revival. With Andy Burnham facing a tough fiscal climate, tax rises look inevitable and she wants to take full advantage of that. Against Reform’s Robert Jenrick and Labour’s John Healey, Griffith must take his chance to show he can cut through, shape the weather and make some noise.
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