Kemi vow as Cleverly back in Tory top team

KEMI Badenoch said her shadow cabinet shakeup reflects the Tories' “mission of renewal” after a series of changes to her top team saw Sir James Cleverly return to the front bench.

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The former Foreign Secretary, below, will shadow Angela Rayner in the housing, communities and local government brief, while ex-Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden becomes the shadow transport secretary.

Sir James served in the Foreign Office and as Home Secretary when the Conservatives were in power before spending months on the back benches after coming third in the Tory leadership contest last year. The MP for Braintree in Essex has since used his influential position as a former minister to warn against pursuing a populist agenda akin to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.