Shadow cabinet

What is the shadow cabinet?

The shadow cabinet is made up of senior members of the main opposition party in Westminster who act as spokespeople for the opposition in specific policy areas. Shadow ministers are appointed by the leader of the opposition and generally take roles that mirror the current government. Their job is to scrutinise those they ‘shadow’ in government, and develop policies for their party.

The official opposition, and the shadow cabinet in particular, is expected to play the role of a ‘government in waiting’. In the event of a change of governing party, members of the shadow cabinet might expect to take up the role they have been shadowing. In 2024, most of Keir Starmer's shadow cabinet continued in the same brief in government. But a new prime minister may decide to allocate roles to their team differently once they are in government.

Not all shadow cabinet roles have a direct opposite number in government. Sometimes the opposition will appoint a shadow minister for a policy area it thinks is important and that it wishes to highlight. In July 2025 Kemi Badenoch appointed Neil O’Brien as shadow minister for policy renewal and development, despite the fact that such a role does not exist within government.

Who is in the shadow cabinet?

Kemi Badenoch reshuffled her shadow cabinet on 22 July 2025. Her shadow cabinet is made up of 26 members (including Kevin Hollinrake as Conservative Party Chairman) - most of Badenoch's cabinet kept their positions in the reshuffle. Four Conservative MPs joined the shadow cabinet:

• James Cleverly who has returned from the backbenches as shadow secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities;
• Julia Lopez who moves from being Badenoch’s parliamentary private secretary to shadow secretary of state for science, innovation and technology;
• Richard Holden who was appointed as shadow transport secretary;
• Neil O’Brien who has been appointed to the new post of shadow minister for policy renewal and development. 

It is unclear how much the rest of the shadow frontbench changed as part of the July 2025 reshuffle. Gareth Bacon, formerly shadow transport secretary has become shadow minister for housing and planning alongside his role as shadow minister for London.

Which constituencies do members of the shadow cabinet represent?

Most of Badenoch’s shadow cabinet represent constituencies in South East England. The shadow Scotland secretary is the only member of the shadow cabinet representing a Scottish constituency – there is no Welsh representation amongst the shadow cabinet as the Conservative party lost all of its Welsh MPs at the general election. 

How experienced is Badenoch's shadow cabinet?

All members of Badenoch’s first shadow cabinet entered parliament after 2010, meaning that they entered opposition for the first time following the 2024 election. The median number of years that shadow ministers had spent in parliament was less time on average compared to their Labour equivalents – around 10 years compared to 15 years for the cabinet.

Who else is on the shadow front bench?

As of September 2025, the rest of Badenoch's shadow front bench includes,

• 42 shadow ministers of state (or equivalent rank),
• 10 shadow parliamentary under secretaries (or equivalent rank),
• a deputy leader for the House of Commons and the House of Lords respectively and the shadow attorney general,
• 15 further shadow ministers who work as whips across both houses ⁷ Numbers from ‘His Majesty’s Official Opposition: The Shadow Cabinet’, Parliament.UK, retrieved 03 September 2025, https://members.parliament.uk/opposition/cabinet. .

A number of these shadow ministers hold more than one role. ⁸ 3 shadow ministers hole 2 shadow MoS roles; 5 hold a shadow MoS and a whip role; 1 holds two shadow MoS roles and a whip role; 3 hold a shadow PUSS role and a whip role and 1 holds a shadow MoS role and a shadow PUSS role.  This means that 63 out of 120 (+1 suspended) Conservative MPs (just over half) hold shadow ministerial positions. Badenoch's shadow government also includes 32 shadow Lords ministers.

What did Kemi Badenoch's first shadow cabinet look like?

Kemi Badenoch formed her first shadow cabinet on 5 November 2024 . Her shadow cabinet included nine members of Rishi Sunak’s interim shadow cabinet and three of her competitors for the Conservative Party leadership race – Mel Stride, Priti Patel and Robert Jenrick.