The Tory leader is carrying out a reshuffle of her shadow cabinet.
Kemi Badenoch ousted Sir Mel Stride as shadow chancellor in a reshuffle of her top team as she prepares for a possible early general election. The Tory leader replaced him with former businessman Andrew Griffith in an overhaul of her shadow cabinet ahead of Parliament’s return tomorrow and the party’s conference next month.
Claire Coutinho, who was the shadow energy secretary, will take on Mr Griffith’s previous shadow business secretary role when she returns from maternity leave in the new year.
Sir Mel will return to the backbenches alongside Tory heavyweights Dame Priti Patel and Sir James Cleverly.
Tom Tugendhat will take over from Dame Priti as shadow foreign secretary, while Sir James announced that he was standing down as shadow housing secretary to have a tilt at being the Tory candidate for London mayor.
Kemi Badenoch is reshuffling her shadow cabinet (Image: Getty)
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Sir Mel Stride has been ousted as shadow chancellor (Image: Getty)
It comes as the Conservative leader is gearing up amid speculation new Prime Minister Andy Burnham could call a general election, which is not due until 2029, in the next 12 months.
A senior Conservative source said Mrs Badenoch was “changing the way the Conservative Party approaches economic policy and creating a new economic leadership team for the next phase, focused on growth, higher living standards and fiscal credibility”.
They added: “The team will be led by Andrew Griffith, a no-nonsense, pro-growth shadow chancellor with real business experience. Claire Coutinho will be Andrew’s deputy across the economic brief, as well as shadow business secretary, and will make sure growth translates into higher living standards.”
Mrs Badenoch said Sir Mel “came into the job at an exceptionally difficult point for the Conservative Party”.
She added: “He brought experience, seriousness and stability when those things were badly needed. He helped us steady the ship, rebuild economic credibility and become an effective opposition, and I am genuinely grateful for his contribution.
“The Conservative Party would not have got where we are without his work and his very effective skewering of Rachel Reeves and her disastrous time as chancellor.
“Mel has been very supportive of the new economic team and the party, and been exceptionally loyal, and I will always be grateful to him for the work he has done.”
Sir Mel described his time in the senior Tory role as a “great honour”, and added: “The Conservative party must continue to champion an approach which is both radical and deliverable.
“It is essential that the next Conservative government does things very differently, backing business like never before and getting government out of the way. The Conservatives have a good story to tell on this now and one that I know will continue to grow stronger and stronger under Kemi’s leadership.
“I am now looking forward to continuing to make a real contribution to the Conservative team in Parliament and beyond, to build and amplify our vision for Britain, from the back benches.”
Mr Griffith pledged that the Conservatives would deliver “an economic revolution”.
He said: “To become Shadow Chancellor for the party I joined as a teenager under Mrs Thatcher is a great honour.
“Kemi and I are united in our view that Britain needs an economic revolution and a team working to deliver that.
“I look forward to bringing my business experience to bear and working with colleagues to lower taxes, cut red tape and to back the wealth creators who deliver growth, investment and jobs for our country.”
But Mr Griffith’s appointment came under fire from Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick.
He said: “The Tories have just brought back Boris Johnson’s ‘Net Zero Business Champion’ who co-authored Liz Truss’s mini-budget. They haven’t changed and still aren’t sorry for the damage they inflicted on our country.
“The Tories just cannot be trusted to cut handouts to illegal migrants, end mad net zero subsidies or to slash the ballooning benefits bill.”
Labour pointed out the new shadow chancellor’s past support for Liz Truss and her mini-budget.
The party’s chair Bridget Philipson said: “Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives have learnt nothing since they were kicked out of office by the British people. Promoting a key architect of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget tells you all you need to know about Badenoch’s complete lack of judgement.”
“The Tories’ top team is crammed full of the same vandals who hammered family finances and left our public services crumbling. No wonder they’ve made no progress in the last two years.”