Kemi Badenoch declared that the “huge job” of holding Labour to account and preparing for a Tory government begins immediately. So what’s next for the new leader?
Her first task – and one that doesn’t always go to plan for party leaders, because some colleagues refuse what they’re offered – is to appoint her top team, her shadow cabinet.
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She said during the leadership campaign she’d offer jobs to all her five rivals. But she’s already suffered her first setback, because James Cleverly has said he’s off to the back benches.
Mr Cleverly joins the Tories’ most senior former cabinet minister, Jeremy Hunt, who’s held four cabinet posts including chancellor, in sitting out the Badenoch fightback. For now at least.
Also off to the back benches – along with Rishi Sunak, of course – are Mr Sunak’s deputy PM, Sir Oliver Dowden, and – just minutes before the leadership result – former Brexit, health, and environment secretary, Steve Barclay.
In the case of Sir Oliver and Mr Barclay, it may have been a question of jumping before they were pushed. But the wise counsel and experience of Mr Hunt and the energy and campaigning flair of Mr Cleverly will be sorely missed.
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The top priority for Ms Badenoch is to appoint a shadow chancellor. In opposition, as well as in government, this always needs to be a close ally of the leader. Think David Cameron and George Osborne, as well as Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell.
Mel Stride, one of the leadership candidates, has been publicly auditioning for the job for months. But the new leader may want a fresher face. The ambitious Andrew Griffith, one of her leading backers, has been widely tipped.
Will Robert Jenrick accept a job from his victorious rival after their bruising contest? Only last weekend, Ms Badenoch accused him of being sacked from government after a “whiff of impropriety”.
Surely the only job he’d accept would be shadow home secretary, where he could pursue his hardline immigration agenda. But she may want a fresher face there too. Victoria Atkins, a former criminal barrister, perhaps?
One job that might appeal to Mr Jenrick is shadowing deputy PM Angela Rayner on housing, the job Ms Badenoch asked Mr Sunak for after the election, when Michael Gove quit as an MP.
But if she doesn’t want Mr Jenrick in her shadow cabinet, she might humiliate him by offering him a lowly shadow cabinet post, which she’d know he’d turn down. But on the other hand, she might want to avoid Mr Jenrick sniping from the back benches.
Given her suggestion she would appoint her rivals, Tom Tugendhat seems set for a key role. Given his military, security and foreign affairs background, he could be shadow home secretary or even shadow foreign secretary, perhaps.
And Ms Badenoch’s promise to offer all her rivals a shadow cabinet post suggests a comeback for Priti Patel, a former cabinet minister who is popular on the right of the party.
Richard Fuller’s stint as interim party chairman surely will prove to have been just that, interim. The party chairman will be a key post as the new leader attempts a fightback, starting with local elections next May, and launches an overhaul of much-criticised party HQ.
Stuart Andrew, however, who’s been a popular stand-in chief whip, could well keep the job, unless Ms Badenoch wants to reward one of her close cronies. Which, after all, is what party leaders often do.
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Next, after setting out her agenda in a Sunday morning TV interview, Ms Badenoch’s Commons debut will almost certainly come at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday. Sir Keir Starmer beware!
She’ll obviously want to make an immediate impact with a powerful performance. First impressions and all that. And let’s face it, the controversial and unpopular measures in Rachel Reeves’ budget have provided several open goals.
Mr Sunak, in his Commons swansong, showed how to do it with his combative and widely praised attack on the budget immediately after the chancellor sat down on Wednesday afternoon.
And in her brief remarks after her victory, she spoke of involving not just MPs, but MSPs at Holyrood, members of the Welsh Senedd, “our friends in Northern Ireland” and Tory councillors and party members in the job ahead.
That suggests that she’ll waste no time in hitting the road – and trains and planes, no doubt – and embarking on meet-and-greet tours of the nations and regions to gee up the troops and get them on side for the Tory fightback.
It’s a fightback that starts now. She also spoke about the party over the next five, 10 or 20 years. David Cameron, the last Tory leader elected in opposition, waited five years before becoming prime minister.
So the road to a Tory victory at the next election will be a long one. And given Ms Badenoch’s reputation – “I’m someone who’s very blunt… I’m not a wallflower,” she told Sky News this week – the road will be bumpy.
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