Angela Rayner to face new shadow opposition.
In her Shadow Cabinet mini-shuffle earlier this week, Kemi Badenoch chose former Home Secretary Sir James Cleverly as the Conservative Party’s new Housing spokesman – a position which will allow him to face off directly against Angela Rayner.
Long seen as one of the party’s most effective communicators, Conservatives will hope that Cleverly’s return to the front benches will signal a return to form for the party. Some will also see his appointment as a step away from Reform UK – with Cleverly traditionally taking up more centrist policy positions at a time when Badenoch has often been criticised for “chasing Reform”.
Cleverley competed against Kemi (who was Shadow Housing secretary at the time) in the party’s 2024 leadership election, where he at one point looked favourite to win. Following his elimination from the leadership race in October, he has spent the last 9 months on the backbenches representing his constituency of Braintree.
During the leadership campaign, Cleverly acknowledged the need to build more houses, but suggested attention should be focussed towards “increasing densification” in urban areas such as London, rather than “concret[ing] over the Green Belt”. He has previously proposed scrapping stamp duty in order to facilitate downsizing, and cutting red tape to allow transport and energy infrastructure to be built cheaper and quicker.
If you are attending party conferences later in the year, we look forward to seeing you at our joint Fabian Society/ Hallam Land housing discussion ‘Planning for Change: A New Blueprint for Housing’ at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Monday 29th September from 1.45 -2.45pm at Bluecoat Liverpool.
