Kemi Badenoch to reshuffle Tory shadow cabinet

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch is set to reshuffle her shadow cabinet on Tuesday.

Sir James Cleverly, who previously served in government as the foreign secretary and home secretary, is expected to return to the front bench as part of the changes.

The leader of the opposition had been expected to make small changes to the make-up of her frontbench team in order to replace one or two shadow ministers who wanted to step down for personal reasons.

However, BBC News understands Badenoch has opted for a bigger shake-up, including bringing back former leadership rival Sir James into a high-profile role.

A party source confirmed the reshuffle to the BBC, saying: “The leader of the opposition will be making some changes to her frontbench team today.

“The changes reflect the next stage of the party’s policy renewal programme and underline the unity of the party under new leadership.

“Sir James Cleverly, is expected to return in a prominent front bench role to take the fight to this dreadful Labour government.”

Sir James has been a backbench MP since being eliminated from the Tory leadership election in October 2024, after which Badenoch went on to defeat her closest rival, the now-shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick.

It is not yet known what role Sir James will take up in the shadow cabinet.

He received a knighthood in April 2025 as part of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list.

A full list of changes to Badenoch’s team is expected in Tuesday afternoon.

Her shadow cabinet currently includes shadow chancellor Mel Stride, shadow home secretary Chris Philp and Dame Priti Patel as shadow foreign secretary.

The reshuffle comes eight months into Badenoch’s leadership of the Conservatives – a period which has seen the party regularly poll third or fourth, behind Labour, Reform UK and sometimes the Liberal Democrats.

In May, the Tories suffered a poor set of results in the local election, losing control of 16 councils.

In an interview with the BBC in June, 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 added that 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”.

A Labour source said “After initially claiming her shadow cabinet would be in place until the next election, Kemi Badenoch has already hit the panic button.

“The Tory leader can shuffle as many deckchairs as she likes, but it’ll still be the same old faces that were responsible for 14 years of failure.”