Afternoon summary
No 10 says it took time replying to Alan Bates' letter about Post Office compensation so it could get it right
Downing Street said Keir Starmer has not replied yet to Sir Alan Bates’ letter to him about compensation to victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal (see 4.07pm) because the government wants to take time to get it right.
Asked about Bates’ comments to the business committee, the prime minister’s spokesperson told journalists at the afternoon lobby briefing:
It was obviously right that we took the time to consider the issues raised in the letter to the prime minister, consider our response, make sure it was accurate and substantial and obviously we engaged with relevant departments to ensure that the prime minister’s response was as full as possible.
I think that response was issued earlier today.
On the substance of the issue, the government is committed to getting redress to those affected as quickly as possible and is doing all it can to increase the pace of redress across all schemes.
What we don’t want to do is set an arbitrary cut-off date which could result in some claimants missing the deadline. We obviously don’t want to put pressure on claimants and put them off contesting their claim.
But each postmaster eligible for the GLO scheme should receive substantial redress by the end of March and we are doing everything we can to achieve that goal.
Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill to attend Remembrance Sunday event as Northern Ireland's first minister
Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s first minister, has said she will participate in the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at Belfast City Hall – making her one of the first senior Sinn Féin figures to participate in such an event.
In an interview with PA Media, she said that some republicans would be “uncomfortable” by her being there – but that it was a demonstration of her determination to fulfil her pledge to be a “first minister for all”.
O’Neill became first minister designate after Sinn Féin got the most seats in the 2022 assembly elections, but she did not take office until February this year because until then the DUP blocked the formation of an executive.
She told PA:
Back in February, it was a moment of progress and equality here when I became the first nationalist, republican first minister and I made very firm pledges at that time that I would represent everybody in society.
So when I got this invitation to attend remembrance events this weekend, I thought it was important to take that invitation up because that for me is the fulfilment of my commitment to those people out there from a British and unionist identity who hold this important Remembrance Day very carefully to their own heart.
So, for me, this is about acknowledgement of loss, but it’s also about being respectful to all those people out there and fulfilling my commitment to be first minister for all.
Sinn Féin is committed to a united Ireland and for many years it functioned as the political arm of the republican terrorist group, the IRA. In the past Sinn Féin politicians have boycotted Remembrance Sunday events on the grounds that they honour the British military, and by association British imperialism. But last year the Sinn Féin mayor of Belfast did attend an Armistice day event.
Henry Zeffman from the BBC reports three more shadow ministerial appointments.
More Badenoch appointments
Gagan Mohindra is the Shadow Deputy Chief Whip
Mark Francois is the Shadow Minister of State for Defence
Kieran Mullan is the Shadow Minister of State for Justice
(Mohindra backed Cleverly, Francois backed Jenrick, Mullan backed Badenoch)
Post Office campaigner Alan Bates says he's been waiting a month for reply from PM to letter about compensation delays
Sir Alan Bates has told MPs that Keir Starmer has not yet responded to his requests for help with settling redress claims for those affected by the Horizon scandal, PA Media reports.
The lead campaigner and former post office operator told the Commons business committee’s short inquiry into securing “fast and fair redress” that he wrote to the PM around a month ago requesting assistance.
Bates was representing claimants from the 555 subpostmasters who took the Post Office to the high court between 2017 and 2019 – also known as the GLO [Group Litigation Order] scheme. He told MPs 70 of the GLO scheme claimants have died while compensation is being sorted out.
Bates told MPs:
I wrote to [Starmer] initially about a month ago and I said that it should be finished, it needs to be finished, by the end of March 2025.
A deadline should be set and we asked for his help in setting this deadline.
I never received a response. I wrote to him a few days ago to remind him that I’d never received a response.
Now, we’re at five months until the end of March 2025 …
People have been waiting far too long, over 20-odd years, there’s over 70 that have died along the way in the GLO group.
There are people well into their 80s now that are still suffering.
They’re still having to put up with this as well. They shouldn’t. They really shouldn’t.
Bates also told the committee he had discussed with colleagues the possibility of fresh legal action to speed up compensation payments. But he said that would lead to the current scheme being suspended. “Now that might be a choice people are prepared to take,” he said.
Updated
Streeting welcomes Argar's appointment as shadow health secretary, but suggests he's too 'sensible' for Badenoch
MPs are still debating the budget, and today health is the focus. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, opened the proceedings and he used his speech to describe his new opposite number, Edward Argar, with a word intended to damage Argar’s career prospects under Kemi Badenoch; he called him “sensible”.
Streeting was talking about Labour health plans, and he said the proposals in the budget to extend soft drinks levy build on the sugar tax introduced by George Osborne when he was chancellor. He also pointed out that Labour is introducing a gradual smoking ban originally proposed by Rishi Sunak.
Referring to Argar, Streeting went on:
Because he’s sensible, I know the shadow health and social care secretary will support those measures.
But I can’t say the same for the leader of the opposition, so trapped in the prison of ideological dogma is she, so scared is she of the Reform [UK] dog that’s barking over their shoulders.
So I hope the shadow health secretary will continue to hold the torch for One Nation Conservatism, even as its light dims in his party.
And if we want to know when the Conservative party has changed, maybe we will know when they have learned once again to love George Osborne.
Streeting made a similar point about Argar in a post on social media.
Congratulations to Ed Argar on his appointment to the best job in opposition. He is one of the few keepers of the One Nation Tory flame, now dimmed by the surge of the right wing populism that has swept his party. Wish him every success in restoring reason to Conservatism.
Congratulations to Ed Argar on his appointment to the best job in opposition. He is one of the few keepers of the One Nation Tory flame, now dimmed by the surge of the right wing populism that has swept his party. Wish him every success in restoring reason to Conservatism.
— Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting) November 5, 2024
Argar is one of the most prominent Robert Jenrick supporters to get a post in Badenoch’s shadow cabinet.
In his response, Argar claimed that Streeting’s attack on Badenoch meant Labour were scared of her. He said:
I think [Badenoch] should probably take that as a compliment. Because when [Streeting] attacks someone in that way, it probably means they’re somewhat frit of her.
And I think he will see in the coming weeks and months why that is so.
Updated
Kemi Badenoch is not appointing a deputy, according to Christian Calgie from the Express. He says when Badenoch has to choose someone to shadow Angela Rayner when she is taking PMQs, she will decide who does it depending on the issues of the day.
NEW: Kemi Badenoch is not appointing a deputy party leader, despite it being reported it could go to Ben Houchen - or indeed, I was wondering, Tom Tugendhat.
Instead she will pick a member of the shadow cabinet depending on the question topics to take on Angela Rayner at DPMQs
Less than a third of voters think it is likely that Kemi Badenoch will still be Conservative leader at the time of the next election, polling by Opinium suggests. And, even amongst people who voted Tory at the last election, only 40% think she is likely to remain in place, while 36% think she is likely to be replaced. There is a write-up of the polling, which was carried out last week before it was announced that Badenoch was the leader, and when respondents were just asked about the “next Tory leader”, on the PoliticsHome website.
MP says he was mugged last night returning to London flat and had phone stolen
Chris Webb, the Labour MP for Blackpool South, says he was mugged in London last night and had his phone stolen. He posted this on social media.
Last night, as I was returning to my flat in London, I was attacked and mugged by a group of individuals.
Luckily, I have no injuries and I am ok. Unfortunately, they just took my phone so I’m without one for the foreseeable future.
I want to thank the @metpoliceuk for their swift response and support. The officers who assisted me went above and beyond. They are a remarkable credit to the force.
John McDonnell, shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, probably does not see eye to eye with Christopher Hope, the GB News political editor, on most political issues, but he does agree with Hope’s line about this being more of a shallow cabinet than a shadow cabinet. (See 10.06am.)
I don’t think anyone should underestimate Kemi Badenoch, in particular the damage she could do to our society, but I do think that the depiction of the shadow cabinet as the “shallow cabinet” is pretty accurate.
Treasury broke law when it failed to disclose full details of government spending pressures to OBR, MPs told
Last week the Office for Budget Responsibility published a report into Rachel Reeves’s claims that the last government left a £22bn black hole in government spending plans for 2024-25. It said that the Treasury under Jeremy Hunt did withhold information from the OBR about the spending pressures it faced, but it did not specifically endorse the £22bn claim. Instead it implied that any black hole would have been about £9.5bn in size.
Today, in evidence to the Commons Treasury committee, Richard Hughes, chair of the OBR, said that withholding information in this way was against the law. He said:
There were about £9.5bn worth of net pressure on departments’ budgets which they did not disclose to us as part of our usual budget preparation ... which under the law and under the Act they should have done.
When pressed by Meg Hillier, the Labour chair of the committee, if he was really saying that the Treasury broke the law, Hughes said there may have been a “misunderstanding” about how the law should be interpreted.
Hughes also said that, as a result of what happened, the OBR was moving from a system where it just trusted the Treasury to give it the relevant figures to a “trust but verify” relationship.
Graeme Wearden has more details on his business live blog.
Labour says Tories 'have learned nothing' because new shadow cabinet full of Truss/Johnson supporters
Labour says that three quarters of the members of Kemi Badenoch’s new shadow cabinet abstained in the Commons vote to approve the report condemning Boris Johnson for lying to MPs about Partygate, that 42% of them (11 out of 26) backed Liz Truss for leader and that nearly three quarters of them served in Truss’s government.
In a statement issued by Labour HQ, Ellie Reeves, the party chair, claims this shows the Tories are tainted by the past and have not moved on. She says:
Instead of turning the page on 14 years of Tory government, Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet shows that the Conservatives have learned nothing.
How can the new Conservative leader claim to be changing the Tory party when most of her team were ministers for Liz Truss as they crashed Britain’s economy, or claim to want to uphold standards when most went AWOL for the vote on Boris Johnson’s antics at Partygate?
Downing Street would not say whether Keir Starmer will be staying up late tonight to watch the US presidential election results come in. But the PM’s spokesperson told journalists at the morning lobby briefing that Starmer would be following the results. The spokesperson said:
It’s obviously for the American people to decide who they want to be their president when they vote today.
The UK and US share a special relationship, and we look forward to working closely with whoever wins the election.
We look forward to further strengthening our close ties across all parts of the close relationship.
If Starmer does decide to stay up late, he should read Archie Bland’s Guardian guide for Brits as to when the results will come in.
But the Labour MP Torsten Bell says we should all just go to bed.
There’s only one thing more futile than Brits staying up on US election night. Shadow cabinet meetings
Labour deporting foreign offenders more quickly than Tories did, Shabana Mahmood tells MPs
Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, told MPs during justice questions today that Labour is deporting foreign criminals more quickly than the Conservatives did. She said:
I share the public’s view that there are far too many foreign national offenders (FNOs) in our prisons. Since coming into office we have returned more than 1,500 foreign offenders and I am pleased to say that we are currently on track to remove more foreign offenders this year than at any time in recent years …
We are on track to remove more foreign offenders this year than in previous years. In fact, over the same period when the previous government was in office and in fact the shadow justice secretary [Robert Jenrick] was himself the immigration officer, the number was around 1,300.
Jenrick uses first outing as shadow justice secretary to attack Labour over early prisoner releases
Robert Jenrick used his first question in the Commons as shadow justice secretary to claim Labour should apologise to the public over prison releases.
Speaking during justice questions this morning, Jenrick, who was runner up in the Tory leadership contest, said:
I’ve been a little busy over the summer. But, during that time, the only group this Labour government’s popularity has increased with is criminals.
How many domestic abusers and sex offenders who were released under their early release scheme have gone on to reoffend? And would they like to apologise to the victims?
Alex Davies-Jones, the justice minister, said Jenrick had “a very short memory” and that “it is he who should be apologising to the country as a whole, on behalf of his government’s woeful, absolute misabuse of our justice system and our prisons”.
In a later question, Jenrick asked if the government would review the charging threshold to make it harder for firearms officers to face prosecution following the acquittal of the officer who killed Chris Kaba.
In response Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, said that charging decisions were a matter for the CPS, but that the Home Office has announced a presumption of anonymity for firearms officers who are charged following the Kaba case.
Jake Richards, the Labour MP for Rother Valley and a former barrister, posted a message on social media afterwards saying Jenrick’s tone was disappointing.
A depressing tone to @RobertJenrick’s debut as shadow Justice Secretary in the Chamber this morning. Any hope for building a cross-party consensus on sentencing and prison reform seems off the table. A great shame - as the appointment of @DavidGauke was an important opportunity.
Ed Miliband tells cabinet climate crisis could put 600,000 more Britons at risk of flooding and cut global growth by 19%
Kemi Badenoch, Priti Patel and Chris Philp all look very cheerful in the picture released by the Tories from shadow cabinet. (See 12.36pm.) But real cabinet sounds like a more gloomy affair.
According to the readout from No 10, the contributions included Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, talking about the dire risks posed by climate change, Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, talking about preparations for winter, and Streeting talking about mpox.
In its summary of what Miliband told colleagues, Downing Street says:
[Miliband] said that since the election the government has consented over 2GW of solar power, removed the ban on onshore wind, held a record-breaking renewables auction, established Great British Energy, and invested in CCUS, hydrogen and nuclear projects that will boost growth.
He went on to say that our domestic ambition and international leadership, including at Cop, go hand in hand with the 2008 Climate Change Act - the first of its kind which resulted in many countries following suit.
Climate change is a threat to national security and growth, given climate change could force more than 200 million people globally to migrate, the global economy could be 19% smaller in 2049 than it would be otherwise, and it could put an additional 600,000 people in the UK at risk of flooding.
Talking about the winter, McFadden said the flooding in Spain was a reminder of the impact that for example extreme weather can have on local communities.
And Streeting told cabinet there two further cases of mpox in the UK have been confirmed, taking the total number to three. He said the overall risk to the UK public was low.
Kemi Badenoch has posted pictures of her first shadow cabinet meeting as leader on social media. She says:
Delighted to hold my first meeting of the new Shadow Cabinet this morning.
My team draws on talents from across our party, based on meritocracy and with a breadth of experience and perspective, just as I promised during the campaign.
We will now get to work holding Labour to account and rebuilding our party based on Conservative principles and values.
Hague, Mandelson, Grieve, Lady Royall and Elish Angiolini makes shortlist to be Oxford University's next chancellor
Talking of William Hague, he has made the shortlist of five in the election to be the next chancellor of Oxford University, the university has announced.
There are two Conservatives, or former Conservatives, on the shortlist – Hague and Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general – and two former Labour cabinet ministers, Peter Mandelson and Lady Royall. The fifth candidate, Elish Angiolini, is a former Lord Advocate in Scotland, the Scottish government’s most senior law officer. She was originally appointed to serve a Labour government, but kept on by the SNP.
Oxford said just 23,000 staff and alumni voted in the first round, with a fitness instructor and an “anti-woke” priest among the 38-strong long-list of candidates for the largely ceremonial post held by Chris Patten, the former governor of Hong Kong.
No woman has filled the position in its 800-year history, with previous chancellors including Oliver Cromwell and the Duke of Wellington. This election is the first to be held online, with only around 6.5% of Oxford’s estimated 350,000 graduates worldwide taking part so far.
Trump is threat to democracy, says former Tory leader and former foreign secretary William Hague
Nigel Farage likes Donald Trump, but another rightwinger, William Hague, has used his column in the Times today to describe Trump as “a serious danger” and a threat to democracy. Here’s an extract. Hague, the former Tory leader and former foreign secretary, says:
It is important we understand that Trump is not Reagan. He isn’t even a conservative. He is against free trade: “tariff” is his favourite word. His plans for tax cuts without spending reductions are reckoned, by the calculations of the impartial Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget — the equivalent of our Institute for Fiscal Studies — to be likely to add $7.5 trillion to America’s deficit, abandoning any fiscal conservatism. His foul diatribes against those who cross him and refusal to accept legitimate election results make him a threat to the functioning of democracy. Reagan would have only contempt for him.
It is hard for British Conservatives to accept that the Republican Party we knew so recently has become inhabited by something quite different, by a cult of personality rather than a political philosophy. It is as if a close friend has died, or at least taken leave of their senses. Those of us who were there, cutting our political teeth in the Reagan-Thatcher days, mourn the disappearance of our old sister party. And it is on matters of global security that this is most alarming.
The current Tory leader, and current shadow foreign secretary, would not say this.
Farage says Elon Musk's plans for mass government sackings, like what he did at Twitter, are policy model for Reform UK
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is in the US where he is due to attend an election day party at Donald Trump’s Florida home in Mar-a-Lago. In an interview with the Telegraph, he has said that Trump, who is a friend, should accept defeat if he loses the presidential election. (See 10am.)
TELEGRAPH: Farage tells Trump: Do not fight poll result #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Jrvz1m3uKo
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) November 4, 2024
But Farage said he expected Trump to win. And he said he was particularly excited by the prospect of a Trump victory because Trump has said he will put Elon Musk, the Tesla founder and X owner, in charge of a government efficiency commission. Farage said that Musk would slash government spending, and that this would provide a blueprint for what Reform UK would propose for Britain. He told the Telegraph:
This is the sexy bit: Elon comes in and takes a knife to the deep state. Just like when he bought Twitter he sacked 80 per cent of the staff.
There are going to be mass lay-offs, whole departments closing and I’m hoping and praying that’s the blueprint for what we then do on our side of the pond.
Because that’s what Reform UK believes in - that we’re over-bureaucratised and none of it works. This assault on the bureaucratic state is the thing that’s really exciting.
They’ll all be gone. They’ll all be fired. Why do we need Whitehall with all these useless, ghastly Marxists? Universities have all become madrassas of Marxism. The whole thing is appalling.
Trump’s first term taking on the deep state was impossible because they had no idea how it worked; he finished up with a lot of people around him who weren’t supporters and who were imposed upon him.
They didn’t know an American president has the power to appoint 3,000 people. This time they have been working really hard on that for 18 months.
Rightwingers regularly complain that the state is too large (Kemi Badenoch believes this too), but it’s unusual to argue that Musk’s management of Twitter has been a success. Since he took over, it has lost three quarters of its value, equivalent to a sum worth around $30bn. That is partly because, after Musk sacked most of the moderators, people were less willing to use and advertise on the site.
Updated
Mims Davies has posted this about her appointment as shadow Welsh secretary and shadow minister for women.
I am delighted to be asked by @KemiBadenoch to be the new Shadow Secretary of State for Wales 🏴. I am truly thrilled also to continue as Shadow Minister for Women - especially as we approach 2028 and the centenary of universal suffrage. My love for Wales is enduring & I am… pic.twitter.com/0aIlGuL5Lp
— Mims Davies MP (@mimsdavies) November 5, 2024
I am delighted to be asked by @KemiBadenoch to be the new Shadow Secretary of State for Wales . I am truly thrilled also to continue as Shadow Minister for Women - especially as we approach 2028 and the centenary of universal suffrage. My love for Wales is enduring & I am excited to be working closely with @WelshConserv & standing up for Wales in Westminster once again. Wales deserves so much better than these these 2 failing Labour governments - especially a better NHS, improved education, help for pensioners and actual support for hard working farmers. I loved my time studying, living & working in Wales & had the previous honour of serving in the Wales office. Time for this throwback photo . Diolch yn fawr, Kemi- now let’s get to work.
Streeting says NHS to review guidance on prostate cancer screening in light of appeal from Chris Hoy
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has said the NHS review its guidance on testing for prostate cancer in the light of Sir Chris Hoy’s “powerful” call for more men to be screened.
As PA Media reports, the Olympic cycling champion, who has terminal cancer, is urging men with a family history of the disease to consider seeing their GP, and for more men to be aware of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test to check for the disease. Both Hoyle’s grandfather and father had prostate cancer, which can run in families.
NHS guidelines for England say anyone can request a PSA test if they are over the age of 50. GPs are currently told to use their clinical judgment for men aged under 50 without symptoms who they consider to be at increased risk of prostate cancer, but men with symptoms of any age can request a test. Hoy said it should be easier for younger men to get test.
Asked about this on BBC Breakfast, Streeting said:
I think [Hoy] makes a powerful argument there. That’s why I’ve asked the NHS to look at the case for lowering the screening age on prostate cancer, and [he] even makes a particularly powerful case where there’s family history.
I’m sure his appeal to people who’ve got a history of prostate cancer in their family to maybe think about asking for an earlier check will already be heeded by people watching …
So, I can tell Chris we are now actively looking at the case – we’ve obviously got to be evidence-led, [have] clinically led decisions … but we are acting actively looking at it as a result of his intervention.
Andrew Bowie, Kemi Badenoch’s new shadow Scottish secretary, was a prominent supporter of Theresa May during the Brexit negotiations, and resigned as party vice-chair over Boris Johnson’s handling of the Owen Patterson lobbying row. He went on to work as a junior minister under Badenoch in the Department of International Trade.
Considered a rising star when he was elected at the age of 30 in the snap general election of 2017, he has held onto his north-east Scotland seat despite incursions from the SNP reducing his majority to 900 in 2019.
On the frontline of the debate about transition from oil and gas in the West Aberdeenshire seat, Bowie has been a strong advocate of nuclear energy.
He posted this on social media.
Honoured to have been appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland.
And also very excited to be carrying on as Shadow Minister for Energy at such a pivotal moment for our energy security and future of our energy industry.
Now, time to get to work.
Streeting says Labour could have 'strong' relationship with Trump, brushing aside reminder he once called him 'odious'
Wes Streeting has brushed aside questions about once describing Donald Trump as an “odious, sad, little man”, insisting Labour could have a “strong” relationship with his adminstration if he wins the presidential election.
In an inteview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Streeting, the health secretary, was asked about a post on social media in 2017 in which he said:
Trump is such an odious, sad, little man. Imagine being proud to have that as your president.
Streeting replied:
The prime minister and the foreign secretary have been working hard to build a relationship with President Trump and his team, so that in the event that he is elected as the next president of the United States, we start with the strong working relationship which is in our national interest and in the interests of the United States as well.
And it’s not often I would pray and aid Nigel Farage, the leader of the Reform party but, as he said overnight, President Trump, you know, he speaks as he finds.
He had a very good meeting with Keir Starmer not too long ago, and of course, he’ll be aware of things that we’ve we’ve all said in the past.
Asked about David Lammy, who also made fiercely critical comments about Trump when he was a backbencher, Streeting said:
If you look at the foreign secretary’s relationship with people around Donald Trump, including his vice presidential nominee, the relationships are strong.
There is full coverage of what is happening in America, of course, on our US elections live blog.
Updated
The Commons Treasury committee is taking evidence this morning from Richard Hughes, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, and two of his colleagues about the budget. Graeme Wearden is covering it on his business live blog.
Vaping in playgrounds and outside schools could be banned under anti-smoking bill, Streeting says
As Denis Campbell reports, the tobacco and vapes bill being published today will ban smoking outside schools and hospitals – but not in pub gardens. The government considered a pub garden ban, but decided the benefits would not outweight the costs to the hospitality sector.
But the bill could also ban vaping in certain outdoor spaces. Speaking on LBC this morning, Wes Streeting, the education secretary, said:
We’re also proposing to regulate vapes – vaping outside schools and playgrounds – as part of a wider package to clamp down on the scourge of youth vaping, which will include licensing for retailers, enforcement and also clamping down on the marketing and vaping and advertising and packaging and flavours of vapes to kids.
And this is what the Deparment of Health and Social Care is saying about this in its news release.
The government will also take tougher action to crack down on youth vaping, with 25% of 11 to 15-year-olds having tried vaping in 2023.
Subject to consultation, the government is considering extending restrictions in places that are currently smoke free to also become vape free, especially in areas where there are children and young adults.
Together, these measures will help protect children from becoming hooked on nicotine while continuing to enable adult smokers to use vapes as a quit aid.
This is from James Cartlidge, who has been shadow defence secretary since the general election and who is remaining in the post under Kemi Badenoch.
Incredibly privileged to have been asked by @KemiBadenoch to serve as Shadow Defence Secretary in her new Shadow Cabinet. I look forward to working with the Government on matters of national interest, especially Ukraine, whilst holding them to account on a pathway to 2.5%. pic.twitter.com/L6VED5eUWt
— James Cartlidge MP 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 (@jcartlidgemp) November 5, 2024
Tom Tugendhat is one of two Conservative leadership candidates not in the shadow cabinet. The other is James Cleverly, who said publicly last week he did not want a frontbench post. The other four candidates (Priti Patel, Mel Stride, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch herself, obviously) are all in the shadow cabinet.
But Tugendhat was not snubbed, Badenoch’s team are saying. He was offered a job, but turned it down.
There aren’t many journalists who follow the Conservative party as closely as Christopher Hope, political editor of GB News. He does not seem overly impressed by the news shadow cabinet. He has posted these on social media.
Full shadow Cabinet has just dropped. Interesting that Tom Tugendhat has NOT taken up a role in Kemi Badenoch’s Shadow Cabinet. Appointments Chris Philp (Home), James Cartlidge (Defence), Kevin Hollinrake (Housing), Vicky Atkins (Environment), Andrew Griffith (Business) and Claire Coutinho (Net Zero).
No room for Suella Braverman in the shadow Cabinet either ...
Looking at the names who are not there - James Cleverly, Oliver Dowden, Jeremy Hunt, Steve Barclay, Tom Tugedhat, Suella Braverman - it looks to me more like a shallow Cabinet rather than a shadow Cabinet. But it is four years until the next general election, and the Tory party is undergoing a shift to a new generation of frontbenchers, and all of these Conservatives have a chance to impress the electorate.
Donald Trump should ‘go and play golf’ if he loses US election, says Nigel Farage
Donald Trump should concede defeat and “go and play golf” in Scotland if he loses to Kamala Harris, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. Jessica Elgot has the story.
UK should 'very substantially reduce legal migration', says new shadow home secretary Chris Philp
Chris Philp, the new shadow home secretary, has been posting on social media about his appointment. Among other things, he is says Britain should “very substantially reduce legal migration”.
It’s a privilege to have been appointed to serve as Shadow Home Secretary by our new Leader @KemiBadenoch. The safety of our country and security of our borders is the first duty of Government (1/n)
The Labour Government has already showed itself to be soft on crime and on criminals. They have released dangerous criminals early without the proper checks they promised and have dropped the Conservative’s plans for delivering Immediate Justice
On Borders, they scrapped the Rwanda plan before it even started. Had the deterrent effect commenced in July as planned, we would not have seen over 17,000 illegal small boat crossings since Keir Starmer became Prime Minister.
We now have a mission to hold Labour to account and win back the trust of the public. Conservatives need to work to develop detailed and credible plans, based on our core principles, in order to do that
Our principles include zero tolerance for crime & criminals, and ensuring dangerous or persistent offenders are behind bars. We must always protect and safeguard victims. We will also support the Police and Security services in their work to keep us safe
We need to very substantially reduce legal migration, aim to end illegal entry to the UK and remove those with no right to be here - especially criminals. Nothing can be allowed to stand in the way of this critical mission.
I look forward to working constructively with Parliamentary colleagues, party members, the law and order community and others on this agenda
Here is Jessica Elgot’s story about Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet appointments.
Badenoch says new shadow cabinet draws on 'talents of people from across party', based on meritocracy and experience
In a statement commenting on her shadow cabinet appointments, Kemi Badenoch, the new Conservative leader, said:
I am delighted to have appointed my shadow cabinet, which draws on the talents of people from across the Conservative party, based on meritocracy and with a breadth of experience and perspective, just as I promised during the campaign.
Our party’s problems will only be solved with a team effort, and I am confident my shadow cabinet ministers will deliver effective opposition as we seek to win back the trust of the public.
We will now get to work holding Labour to account and rebuilding our party based on Conservative principles and values.
The process of renewing our great party has now begun.
Badenoch is entitled to say that her shadow cabinet appointments include people from all wings of the party. She has avoided the mistake made by, for example, Iain Duncan Smith (see here) and Liz Truss (see here) who, like Badenoch, were both rightwingers elected leader by the members despite having the support of only around a third of the parliamentary party. Both of them stuffed their teams with supporters, and sidelined their opponents. And, for both of them, this was a problem when they hit a difficult period, because they had less support in the parliamentary party than they might otherwise have done.
Graham Brady, who has chairman of the 1922 Committee in the last parliament, describes this quite well in Kingmaker, his revealing and very readable memoir. Referring to Truss’s cabinet, he says:
The thing that was very clear to me was that the One Nation side of the party, having been almost completely excluded from ministerial office under the new administration, felt no obligation whatsoever to defend the Truss government – it wasn’t theirs.
But Badenoch has also been helped by the fact that, despite being a very rightwing leadership candidate, when it came down to the final two she ended up being the preferred choice for many One Nation or more liberal Tories (like George Osborne and Ken Clarke) because they found Robert Jenrick’s commitment to leaving the European convention on human rights intolerable.
Further frontbench appointments will be made “on a rolling basis” this week, the Tories are saying.
That means they won’t all come at once, and it may take a while.
That’s not unusual. Keir Starmer announced his government appointments over the course of several days. The final two whip appointments came on 23 July, almost three weeks after polling day, and Starmer did not appoint an advocate general for Scotland until the end of August.
Kemi Badenoch names appointments to new shadow cabinet
The Conservative party has sent out the list of appointments to Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet. Here it is, as set out in the press release from CCHQ.
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer: Mel Stride MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs: Dame Priti Patel MP
Shadow Home Secretary: Chris Philp MP
Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland: Alex Burghart MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence: James Cartlidge MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Justice: Robert Jenrick MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Education: Laura Trott MP
Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary: Ed Argar MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Kevin Hollinrake MP
Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Victoria Atkins MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade: Andrew Griffith MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and Shadow Minister for Equalities: Claire Coutinho MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: Helen Whately MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport: Gareth Bacon MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport: Stuart Andrew MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology: Alan Mak MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Shadow Minister of State for Energy and Net Zero: Andrew Bowie MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales and Shadow Minister for Women: Mims Davies MP
Opposition Chief Whip (Commons): Dame Rebecca Harris MP
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons: Jesse Norman MP
Shadow Leader of the House of Lords: Lord True
Co-Chairmen of the Party: Nigel Huddleston MP & Lord Johnson
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Richard Fuller MP
Also attending
Parliamentary Private Secretary: Julia Lopez MP
John Lamont posted this on social media last night saying he is no longer shadow Scottish secretary.
I’m disappointed not to be continuing in my role as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland - a job that I loved.🏴
— John Lamont MP 🇬🇧🏴 (@John2Win) November 4, 2024
I wish my successor well.
I will continue to work from the backbenches standing up for the Scottish Borders & to hold both the Labour & SNP governments to account.
Tory frontbenchers may need to shadow two jobs at same time because of MP shortage, says new party co-chair
Good morning. Kemi Badenoch is chairing her first meeting of the shadow cabinet as leader this morning. We had been expecting to find out who will actually be turning up at some point yesterday, but the full list of shadow cabinet appointments has not been published yet (operating for the convenience of the media has never been a Badenoch priority – fair enough) and the list is due soon.
This is what we knew by the end of play yesterday.
Steven Swinford from the Times claims Badenoch was angry about his revelation yesterday that Robert Jenrick will be the new shadow justice secretary.
Kemi Badenoch was left infuriated after The Times disclosed that she had appointed Robert Jenrick as her shadow justice secretary yesterday
Badenoch had wanted to announce Jenrick’s appointment today so the appointments of Priti Patel as shadow foreign secretary and Mel Stride as shadow chancellor would take the headlines
Nigel Huddleston, the new Conservative co-chair, has been giving interviews this morning, and he told Sky News that the opposition would be able to shadow the government, even though there are more Labour ministers and whips than there are Conservative MPs. Asked if this would be a problem, Huddleston said the party would manage, but that frontbenchers might have to shadow more than one government post at the same time.
We will cover it because we’ve got immense talent in the Conservative party … When I was in government, a couple of times I was both a whip and a minister, and that happens. So, actually, you don’t need quite the number that you might imagine. And we’ve got some very competent people who can often do two jobs.
Huddleston also said that he did not know who all the members of the new shadow cabinet would be.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: Kemi Badenoch is due to publish the names of people sitting in her new shadow cabinet.
9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.
10am: Richard Hughes, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, and two of his colleagues give evidence to the Commons Treasury committee about the budget. At 2pm Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and Mike Brewer, interim chief executive at the Resolution Foundation, are giving evidence.
10am: Kemi Badenoch chairs a meeting of her new shadow cabinet.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
11.30am: Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, takes questions in the Commons. Robert Jenrick will be responding for the Tories in his new role as shadow justice secretary.
2.30pm: Sir Alan Bates, founder of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance, gives evidence to the Commons business committee about the redress system for people affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Also, the government’s tobacco and vapes bill is being published today.
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