Kemi Badenoch makes her first shadow cabinet appointments as leader of the opposition

NEW Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch had made her first two shadow cabinet appointments naming Laura Trott and Neil O’Brien as education spokespersons in a clear indication that this is a policy area she intends focusing on.

In her first major appointments since being announced as the new Tory party leader on Saturday, Ms Badenoch has named has former chief secretary to the treasury Laura Trott the shadow education secretary, with Neil O'Brien being appointed shadow education minister. Both will appear in their new roles in the House of Commons later on today, taking on the government during Education Questions.

Mr Trott has been MP for Sevenoaks in Kent since 2019 and served as number two in the treasury under Jeremy Hunt when he was chancellor. Neil O'Brien has been MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston since 2017 and was most recently a health minister, resigning from Rishi Sunak's government in November 2023 and taking a more critical stance on the then-prime minister from the backbenches.

While Mr Trott supported Ms Badenoch during the leadership contest, Mr O'Brien had supported her rival Robert Jenrick. Already, Ms Badenoch had appointed Nigel Huddleston and Lord Dominic Johnson as joint chairmen of the Conservative Party.

Mr Huddleston, who is MP for Droitwich and Evesham in the West Midlands, previously worked under Ms Badenoch as a minister when she was business secretary. He was most recently a treasury minister.

Lord Johnson also worked under Ms Badenoch as a trade minister, after being appointed to the House of Lords by Liz Truss during her brief spell as prime minister. He had a previous spell as vice chairman of the Conservative Party under Theresa May between 2016 and 2019 and has donated more than £275,000 to Tories over the past decade.

Among other things, Lord Johnson co-founded the investment firm Somerset Capital Management with former Conservative MP and minister Jacob Rees-Mogg in 2007. In a speech to Conservative Party headquarter staff earlier today, Ms Badenoch insisted that they can turn their fortunes around in one political term but added that to do so, the Tories must initially focus on principles such as free speech and personal responsibility before setting out policy.

Meanwhile, in her first media appearance as Tory leader, Ms Badenoch drew anger among people whose loved ones died during the Covid pandemic, as she claimed to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that the Partygate row was overblown. Lobby Akinnola, a spokesperson for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice who lost his father during the pandemic, described Ms Badenoch’s remarks as cruel and showing just how detached politicians can be from the people they represent.

Yesterday evening, Ms Badenoch appointed Castle Point member of parliament Dame Rebecca Harris as Tory chief whip. A formal announcement of the full shadow cabinet is expected before its first meeting tomorrow.