Kemi Badenoch is preparing to overhaul her shadow cabinet within days, in a reshuffle that will see Tom Tugendhat return to front-line politics as shadow foreign secretary, replacing Dame Priti Patel.
Tugendhat, the Tonbridge MP and former security minister, has been on the back benches since his 2024 leadership bid against Badenoch.
He is expected to take on a dual role covering foreign affairs and defence, an area Badenoch’s team regard as central to her strategy for the party. Tugendhat learned of his new post while in Taiwan discussing the challenge posed by China, a country he has long taken a hawkish line on, including opposition to its planned new embassy in London.
Dame Priti will step into a newly created position as the Conservative Party’s international secretary, succeeding Lord Hannan. In her new brief, she will focus on building ties with right-of-centre parties internationally and exploring further third-country migration arrangements in the mould of the Rwanda scheme she negotiated as home secretary.
Dame Priti said:
“At a time of profound global uncertainty, when our values and freedoms are under threat, conservatives must work more closely together.
“We should be learning from each other, sharing ideas and making the case for the values we believe in: freedom, free enterprise, lower taxes and individual responsibility.
“From the appointment of Mandelson as US ambassador and kowtowing to China, to abandoning our friends and allies in the Middle East, Labour has repeatedly failed to put British interests first. I wish my successor well in continuing to hold the Government to account.”
The wider reshuffle will also see Sir James Cleverly leave the shadow cabinet to pursue the Conservative nomination for London mayor in 2028, Helen Grant step down following successful breast cancer treatment, and Claire Coutinho depart on maternity leave ahead of the birth of her second child.
Announcing the changes, Badenoch praised Patel’s contribution, saying she had been “exceptionally loyal, hard-working and supportive during a very difficult period for the party” and that her new role would draw on her experience as home secretary, shadow foreign secretary and her international relationships.
Statement from Claire Bullivant, CEO of the Great British PAC:
“Priti Patel is one of the most formidable operators in British politics, and this new role gives her the global platform her talents deserve. For over a year she has been working relentlessly behind the scenes with us on Chagos, often with no fanfare and no credit, to build the alliances needed to stop Labour’s disgraceful surrender in its tracks, including deep engagement with our American allies, who hold her in the very highest regard. She was the first politician who stood with us right from the start, when everyone else seemed to think it was a done deal and a waste of time to keep fighting after Keir Starmer signed his dreadful surrender.
“Priti doesn’t do headlines for headlines’ sake; she does the hard yards. As international secretary, she is exactly the person to forge a common-sense conservative alliance across the globe, and I have no doubt she will throw herself into that mission with the same energy, discipline and steel that has defined her entire career. There is a huge amount of work ahead, but if anyone can deliver it, it’s Priti.”
