Dame Priti Patel appointed shadow foreign secretary

By David Lynch and Caitlin Doherty, PA Political Staff

Dame Priti Patel has been appointed shadow foreign secretary by new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, with Mel Stride appointed shadow chancellor.

The two former Tory leadership candidates were the first appointments Ms Badenoch has made to shadow the so-called “great offices of state”: the Foreign Secretary, Chancellor and Home Secretary.

Dame Priti and Mr Stride were both early rivals of Ms Badenoch during the Tory leadership contest.

The PA news agency understands the pair’s appointment to the opposition frontbench is an effort to unite different factions of the Conservative Party following the long internal election battle.

The new Conservative leader insisted she would offer all her rivals in the race roles in her shadow cabinet, but former home secretary James Cleverly has already ruled himself out from such a job.

Ms Badenoch had earlier named Laura Trott as her shadow education secretary and Tory former minister Neil O’Brien as a shadow education minister, ahead of education questions in the House of Commons.

Ms Badenoch is expected to name her full shadow cabinet team ahead of their first meeting on Tuesday.

The announcement of the new shadow cabinet follows Ms Badenoch’s victory over former immigration minister Robert Jenrick in the Tory leadership race on Saturday.

In her first media appearance since that victory, she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that she would tell “hard truths” to the country and her party.

She drew criticism for suggesting the so-called partygate scandal that saw Boris Johnson fined for breaking lockdown rules had been “overblown”.