Just three Team Jenrick members in Badenoch’s shadow Cabinet, despite unity claims

Ed Argar made shadow health secretary, Victoria Atkins shadow environment secretary, and Mr Jenrick gets shadow justice brief

Just three Robert Jenrick backers have been appointed to Kemi Badenoch’s shadow Cabinet.
Ed Argar was given the role of shadow health secretary, Victoria Atkins was made shadow environment secretary and Mr Jenrick himself was given the shadow justice brief.
They are the only three of 25 shadow Cabinet ministers chosen by Mrs Badenoch to have publicly supported her rival. Mr Jenrick, the former Home Office minister, won 41 votes in the final round of MPs’ voting.
A source told The Telegraph: “This is a very Kemi shadow Cabinet”.
Ms Atkins has also in theory been handed a less senior position, having previously served as shadow health secretary, but a source close to Mrs Badenoch said Ms Atkins had “asked specifically” for the job.
A source close to Mrs Badenoch said it was a “unity shadow Cabinet”, adding: “There is geographical spread, there is an age spread. Appointments come from the Right to the Left of the party, from Kemi supporters to Jenrick supporters.”
The newly-elected Conservative leader unveiled her new front bench on Tuesday ahead of her first shadow Cabinet meeting. She has included three of her leadership rivals in her team, among them Dame Priti Patel as the shadow foreign secretary and Mel Stride as the shadow chancellor.
James Cleverly ruled himself out of staying on the front bench for whichever of Mrs Badenoch and Mr Jenrick succeeded Rishi Sunak, and Tom Tugendhat was also absent from Mrs Badenoch’s front bench line-up.
The former security minister is understood to have informed the Tory leader that he did not want a shadow Cabinet post.
Mrs Badenoch said ahead of the first shadow Cabinet meeting: “My team draws on talents from across our party, based on meritocracy and with a breadth of experience and perspective, just as I promised during the campaign.
“We will now get to work holding Labour to account and rebuilding our party based on Conservative principles and values.”
The full team has promoted a new generation of senior Tories including Gareth Bacon, the new shadow transport secretary, and Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, both from the 2019 intake.
The youngest of Mrs Badenoch’s shadow ministers is 38-year-old Julia Lopez, who will serve as her parliamentary private secretary. However, the average age of the team overall is only two years younger, at 50, than Mr Sunak’s at the time of the general election.