Sir Mel Stride and Dame Priti Patel have left the shadow cabinet as part of a significant reshuffle of the Conservative top team by leader Kemi Badenoch.
Andrew Griffith will replace Sir Mel as shadow chancellor, while Tom Tugendhat will take the place of Dame Priti as shadow foreign secretary.
Badenoch is forming a new shadow cabinet before the party’s conference in October.
With most polls putting the Conservatives in third place, lagging behind Labour and Reform UK, the Tory leader will be hoping a refreshed shadow cabinet will help boost to her party’s popularity.
Claire Coutinho, previously the shadow energy secretary, after her maternity leave will replace Griffith as shadow business secretary and act as his deputy.
Badenoch said that as shadow chancellor, Sir Mel had helped the party rebuild economic credibility and become an effective opposition.
A senior Conservative source said: “Kemi is 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.”
Sir Mel, who was appointed to the role following Badenoch’s leadership election in 2024, described his time in post as a “great honour”.
New shadow chancellor Griffith said the Tories will deliver “an economic revolution” with lower taxes, Britain drilling again to bring energy costs down, slashing red tape and Labour’s Employment Rights Act.
“The Conservatives will always back the risk-takers and wealth creators who deliver growth, investment and jobs,” he said.
A senior Conservative source described Griffith as a “no-nonsense, pro-growth shadow chancellor with real business experience”.
Before he became MP for Arundel and South Downs in 2019, he served as a top executive at Sky and as chairman of Just Eat.
As a Treasury minister, Griffiths defended Liz Truss’ 2022 mini-budget.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds said the new shadow chancellor backed Truss to be prime minister and highlighted his role during the mini budget which “left families paying the price”.
“Same old Tories, same old economic policies,” she added.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “Griffith helped deliver the Truss mini-budget that sent mortgages soaring and the economy into turmoil.
“It’s clear Conservatives haven’t learned a thing. His appointment to shadow chancellor shows they’re happy to forfeit any claim to economic credibility in their race to the bottom with Reform UK.”
Reform UK shadow chancellor Robert Jenrick said: “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.”
Dame Priti, who had been shadow foreign secretary since 2024, will return to the backbenches and will take on a new international role strengthening the Tories relationship with sister parties and centre-right movements abroad.