James Cleverly returns to Tory frontbench in shadow cabinet reshuffle
The full list of changes will be announced this afternoon, with Kevin Hollinrake likely to move from shadow levelling up secretary to party chairman. The 61-year-old Yorkshireman has proven his worth in recent months on the morning media rounds. With a difficult set of elections looming next May in Scotland and Wales, he could be the man sent out to bat by Badenoch.
So why has the Tory leader opted to shuffle around her frontbench? At the beginning of the year, Badenoch's team were keen to stress stability, dismissing talk of an early reshuffle. But, as so often in politics, events have forced her hand. Ed Argar, the shadow health secretary, had a health scare earlier this summer. He has today stepped back from the frontbench to focus on his recovery. Badenoch is therefore using his departure as the chance to make what she calls 'a few changes to my frontbench.'
Several other members of the shadow cabinet are reported to be having a difficult time personally. Not all are enjoying the arduous nature of opposition. So a refresh of the team can inject some new blood and try to put square pegs in square holes. The party whips have been taking soundings for weeks. 'The right people have been called in to speak to the Chief', said one senior source.
After so long in government, the 120 remaining Conservatives have had to rediscover the art of opposition. Some, such as Robert Jenrick and Andrew Griffith, have taken to it well. Others, like those typically found at the bottom of the Conservative Home league table, are still taking time to learn. But for Badenoch, facing a resurgent Reform UK, time is no longer a limitless commodity.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
'Don't look now, but Keir's scored a win on knife crime'
It's taken a year but Keir Starmer can finally say his government's brought down knife crime, says Fleet Street Fox. It's a shame people won't notice If it seems to you that the government can't do anything right, it may be because the Opposition, the media, and all the other problems you can see, combine to provide a constant drumbeat of national collapse. It is that sort of tone which did for the Tories, although it took 14 years, Brexit, Partygate, AND Liz Truss to put the last nail in their coffin. In a country where most newspapers are Tory-supporting, most people are socially conservative, and all previously-existing problems have not magically evaporated, it's not a surprise - if you think about it properly - that the same tone applies to a single year of Labour being in power. All journalists kick a government harder than an Opposition. That's the problem with a pedestal. But this column is nothing if it is not scrupulously fair and accurate, and so one year and one month into Keir Starmer's administration it is time to announce that he is finally able to declare a win on one of the most hideous trends in living memory. Knife crime is down. Overall, the figure is 6%, and in some places as much as 25%, but it's down in all the worst hotspots except Greater Manchester. That means less pressure on courts, on hospitals, on police, less trouble for teachers, and more importantly, fewer parents and siblings sobbing over a teenager who has suffered unsurvivable wounds by the sort of blade John Wick would think twice about using. Finally, it's safe to leave the house without checking your will is up-to-date. You can send your children to school with a little more confidence they won't be getting shanked on the way home. And the horror headlines so many have had to live the reality of - 'machete thugs', 'teen stabbed at bus stop', or 'Idris Elba asks for help' - can finally start to ebb from the front pages. The knife crime surge was directly linked to the austerity years' slashing of community centres, youth mentor schemes, and outreach work by charities and local authorities which was considered worthless by the Bullingdon thugs who ran the country and our capital city for so long. Fixing that damage was so overdue, and the means so bleedin' obvious, that the bar was low enough to qualify as an archaeological dig. And it's only a 6% drop, which means there'll still be plenty of knife crime next week for Starmer's enemies to wave around. But the real problem the Prime Minister faces is not that politicians and media can always find something to criticise about whoever's in power. It's that the win is completely intangible - no mother will be aware that her child was otherwise not going to come home today, and that instead of fish fingers for dinner it would have been a trip to a hospital mortuary. All good deeds that avert disaster have the same problem. The Covid vaccines, state education, the NHS in general - because we do not live in the world that does not have them, we do not see what it saves. We count only the cost, of the vaccine-damaged, of teacher pay deals, hospital scandals. We look at the budget column we can see, and not the one we can hug. READ MORE: Mum of teen murdered with ninja sword makes powerful plea on day of major law change For years politicians vowed to get tough on crime, and all they did was redefine "tough" and what counted as a "crime". There's a thousand mothers out there who'd say shutting community centres should have led to jail time, and the cemeteries are evidence enough that all the trumpeted crackdowns did was break a few more hearts. If you ask a stranger which is the "party of law and order", they'd probably shrug and say whichever one whose leader last took a picture with a police dog, or attended a dawn raid with TV cameras. And you can bet your bottom dollar some cycnical so-and-so in Westminster is, as I type, trying to find an asylum seeker who committed a knife crime, just so they can prove a link with a different dog whistle. The truth is that knife crime didn't get tackled by the Tories because they caused it, because it was usually poor kids, and because it was usually black kids. The real force behind this win isn't Starmer but his Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who actually listened to police officers, to parents, to community groups, and then put in place what was needed. She gave an interview today in which she spoke about meeting the parent of a murdered teen, and the 'privilege' of seeing some footage of their last hug before he left the house on the day of his death. The reporter said she teared up, then spoke of all the policies she put in place as a result. That's good politics, effective leadership, real commitment - normal, human, determination to do better. And it won't resonate as it should in an August news lull, because there's plenty of bad news still churning about. Yvette achieved a feat of political alchemy. She turned a foundational failure into meaningful, life-saving change, with grown-up, boring competence of the kind we haven't seen in Westminster for a decade. And she won't get the plaudits she should from people who can't see what they didn't lose. But that's what happens when you treat bad news as a problem to solve, and not a stick to hit your rivals with. It's not surprising so many young people have grown up to lash out, over-react, and fail to think things through, when their formative years were spent in a nation led by people who jerked the knee twice a day and only ever sought to escalate anger. That may be Starmer's real win. A national conversation that is unexciting, but competent. It won't make Twitter explode but for thousands of families, it means the world. The centres of their universe, their sense of security and ease, their pride, their hope. The generation who'll learn how to be grown-ups. The sort of thing that nobody notices, because you can't put a price on it.
Daily Record
4 hours ago
- Daily Record
Campaign for emergency laws to all parts of A75 to be dualled within six years
Tory MSPs Finlay Carson and Craig Hoy want new legislation introduced to allow the Euroroute turned into a dual carriageway as quickly as possible. Emergency laws could allow parts of the A75 to be dualled within six years. Galloway and West Dumfries MSP Finlay Carson and Tory colleague South Scotland MSP Craig Hoy have joined forces to campaign for new legislation to have the Euroroute turned into a dual carriageway as quickly as possible. Their proposals would reduce the time it takes for an environmental impact assessment to be carried out and create infrastructure investment partnerships so that more private investment could be found for the scheme. Mr Carson said: 'As someone who has lived along the A75 my whole life, I know just how important it is and how desperately we need to see it fully dualled. 'Our emergency law would speed up the process of dualling this route and encourage more private investment into the road. 'If this road isn't finally dualled then there is a real threat of businesses taking their trade elsewhere, which would be a hammer blow for south west Scotland. 'Craig Hoy and I are determined to campaign for this vital upgrade and for full dualling. It is clear that only the Scottish Conservatives can be trusted to dual the A75 in full.' The need to upgrade the A75 was identified in the Scottish Government's second Strategic Transport Projects Review and the UK Government's Union Connectivity Review. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. Last week, the UK Government announced an extra £3.45 million was being put into a feasibility study into bypassing Springholm and Crocketford, having previously allocated 'up to £5 million' to the scheme. Experts were appointed to carry out the work last year – but earlier this year Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop warned it would take two years for the study to be carried out.
The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Bring back early years scheme Sure Start to fend off Reform, Labour urged
Labour has been urged to launch a massive expansion of family centres under the Sure Start brand to fend off Nigel Farage 's Reform UK. A commission backed by Labour peer Hilary Armstrong has said a reintroduction of Sure Start family centres could rebuild faith in neighbourhoods blighted by Tory austerity. Her Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods found the reinstatement of Sure Start would be backed across the political spectrum, with two-thirds of potential Reform voters supporting the move. Bridget Phillipson has ploughed £500m into family hubs offering parenting support and youth services across every council in England. The education secretary is targeting disadvantaged communities with what are called 'Best Start' hubs, which she has said will 'give a lifeline' to families. Officials anticipate the network will grow to include up to 1,000 hubs by the end of 2028. Government sources told The Guardian the Best Start brand was tested and came out as a clear winner among voters, with parents viewing it as aimed at parents' ambitions. But Baroness Armstrong's commission found that 62 per cent of people recognise the Sure Start brand, while 72 per cent of voters want to see it revived. More than 1,400 Sure Start centres have been closed since 2010 amid the Conservatives' austerity drive. At its peak under Gordon Brown, the programme had more than 3,600 centres, with Labour ministers repeatedly describing Sure Start as one of the party's biggest achievements in government. Jo White, a Labour MP who chairs the 'red wall' grouping in parliament, told The Guardian: 'Labour's reconnection with left-behind communities, including in the 'red wall' constituencies, has to be tangible. People need to see and experience change, and the reopening of Sure Start centres is a very good start.' Baroness Armstrong added: 'On our visits across the country we have heard time and again how Sure Start made a positive difference to the lives of people in ways that few other policy initiatives have done. 'Our work has shown that bringing back Sure Start centres through upgrading existing services in the most disadvantaged places would not only be good value for money but would also start to rebuild trust in neighbourhoods which saw services taken away due to austerity.' Labour is hoping to see off the rise of Reform, which has consistently topped the polls after Sir Keir Starmer 's shaky start in Downing Street. Mr Farage's party is currently backed by 30 per cent of voters, with Labour on 22 per cent and the Conservatives in third on 17 per cent. Department for Education spokesperson said: 'Giving children growing up in our country the best start in life is central to our mission to break the unfair link between background and success. 'This government is revitalising family services, rolling out up to 1,000 Best Start family hubs in every local area, relieving pressure on parents and building on the successful legacy of Sure Start. 'Through our Plan for Change, our Best Start services will deliver 30 hours of government-funded childcare, expand school-based nurseries, and roll out free breakfast clubs in every primary school to support working parents.'
