Kemi Badenoch begins appointing new Tory shadow cabinet

Badenoch is expected to give a job to her leadership rival Jenrick, after she said in her victory speech that he has a “key role to play in our party for many years to come”.

She said on Sunday that she would bring in people from all wings of the party to her team.

She said she wanted a “shadow cabinet that is meritocratic, that brings in a diverse field of experience, geographic diversity, background, the sort of work experience, professional experience that the MPs had before they came [into parliament]”.

The current Labour government has 120 ministers, meaning the Tories may struggle to shadow all posts given they only have 121 MPs.

Former Home Secretary and defeated leadership candidate James Cleverly last week ruled out serving in the shadow cabinet, telling the FT, external he had been “liberated” from 16 years on the political front line and was now “not particularly in the mood to be boxed back into a narrow band again”.

Former Environment Secretary Steve Barclay confirmed he would also return to the backbenches over the weekend.

On Thursday, before the winner was announced, former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt also said he wouldn’t serve in a new shadow cabinet.