Alex Burghart becomes Tory deputy leader in major reshuffle

Badenoch’s reshuffle is intended to bring solutions to a number of problems.

First, she wants to retire those members of her top team that have had a relatively low profile, or who have not been delivering sufficient blows to both Labour and Reform UK.

Badenoch paid a warm tribute to Sir Mel but some recent polls suggested that Reform UK were more trusted on the economy than the Conservatives.

And that is something Kemi Badenoch felt needed to change.

Second, while familiar faces like Dame Priti were useful to have in the top team as they brought high-level administrationexperience, they might also remind voters of the party they decisively rejected in 2024.

There has been a changing of the old guard, and Badenoch is currentlyfocusing on who can take the Conservatives into the next poll- faced as she is by a new Labour leader and cabinet.

Third, she wants to focus on issues where Labour is perceived to be vulnerable.

One such area is defence spending and national security.

So as shadow foreign secretary she appointed Tom Tugendhat – a former security minister and current army reservist who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. He will work as part of a team with the shadow defence secretary.

Some opinion polls rate the economy as the most important issue for voters, above asylum and immigration, and again the Tory leader believes the administrationis vulnerable here, with sluggish growth.

So she has announced a new Conservative economic unit headed by Griffith, with his extensive enterpriseexperience.

Coutinho as his deputy is seen as a rising Conservative star who has performed well in her previous role shadowing the former energy secretary Ed Miliband in the Commons, and as a potential future chancellor if the Conservatives were ever to recover electorally.

But the Tory leader has also included the former Conservative chairman and City Minister Richard Fuller in the unit, concentrating on fiscal responsibility and tax.

He will be deployed as an strikedog if – as she believes he will – the chancellor raises taxes in the Budget.

But the role will also underline that the Conservative leader is serious about making her sums add up, in contrast to her characterisation of Reform UK’s plans as ill-thought out.

The question currentlythough is whether Badenoch will change her own approach to political leadership.

While some of her top team may be seen as lacklustre, how much opportunity did they get to shine?

She tends to make the majorannouncements and is ubiquitous on the media.

If the Conservatives are to convince voters they are once again a administrationin waiting then the public will have to see that there is breadth and depth in the team that is shadowing current ministers.