Chris Philp appointed shadow home secretary by Kemi Badenoch
Chris Philp has been appointed shadow home secretary by new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.
The former Home Office minister supported Badenoch’s leadership campaign.
On Monday it emerged that Badenoch had offered three of her former leadership rivals senior roles.
Robert Jenrick, who was beaten in the final round, will serve as shadow justice secretary, while Mel Stride will be shadow chancellor and Dame Priti Patel will be shadow foreign secretary.
Badenoch has now named her full shadow cabinet team ahead of their first meeting later.
Ed Argar, a former justice and health minister, has been made shadow health and social care secretary, while Claire Coutinho keeps her job as shadow secretary of state for energy security and net zero, as well as taking on the shadow equalities brief.
Philp was first elected as MP for Croydon South in 2015 and before joining Parliament set up businesses in finance and travel.
As well as serving as a junior minister in the Home Office under Rishi Sunak, he has previously held a number of other government roles including briefly serving as chief secretary to the Treasury under Liz Truss.
Badenoch said her new shadow cabinet “draws on the talents of people from across the Conservative Party, based on meritocracy and with a breadth of experience and perspective”.
She added: “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.”
By giving jobs to some of her former rivals in the Tory leadership race, as well as figures from different wings of the party, Badenoch will be hoping to unite the Conservatives after they suffered their worst ever general election defeat in July.
However, there was wrangling over which, if any, job Jenrick would take.
The BBC has been told he turned down several roles before eventually accepting shadow justice secretary.
The pair clashed during the final weeks of the leadership contest, with Jenrick accusing Badenoch of being “disrespectful” to Tory members by choosing not to set out detailed policies.
Badenoch defended her approach, saying she did not want to rush into deciding policies and make promises before she knew how to deliver them.
She had hoped to give jobs to all of the former leadership contenders but James Cleverly – who came third in the contest – ruled himself out before the results were announced on Saturday.
Tom Tugendhat, who came fourth, is not listed as a member of Badenoch’s top team.
Other roles announced on Tuesday include:
- Shadow defence secretary – James Cartlidge
- Shadow business secretary – Andrew Griffith
- Shadow work and pensions secretary – Helen Whately
- Shadow levelling up, housing and communities secretary – Kevin Hollinrake
- Shadow environment, food and rural affairs secretary – Victoria Atkins
Former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott had already been confirmed as shadow education secretary, with Neil O’Brien appointed shadow education secretary.
Both appeared in their new roles in the House of Commons at Education Questions on Monday.
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