Dancing in the Shadows – the UK’s Conservative opposition “cabinet”

In case anyone has the slightest bit of interest (!) in a minor extinction event, here is the UK’s opposition cabinet, selected from the “rump” of 121 Conservative MP’s that survived the 4 July 2024 election bloodbath (Labour has 403 and the balance up to 650 MP’s in the House of Commons is made up of minority parties. Just think, on a pro-rata population basis, there would be 3,250 people elected to the US House of Representatives! Even more staggering there are 804 members of the House of Lords – a Senate equivalent of 4,000! Imagine the wheel-spinning, gossip and waste!

The operating costs for 4,000 staff supporting the MPs in the House of Commons, building maintenance, travel and entertainment, IT, printing etc for the House of Commons are around a billion bucks a year, The House of Lords costs another 130 million bucks a year 9100 million pounds),

Leader – 44-year-old Olukemi (Kemi) Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch who was first elected to Parliament in 2017,

·        Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer: Mel Stride MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs: Dame Priti Patel MP

·        Shadow Home Secretary: Chris Philp MP

·        Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland: Alex Burghart MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Defence: James Cartlidge MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Justice: Robert Jenrick MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Education: Laura Trott MP

·        Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary: Ed Argar MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Kevin Hollinrake MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Victoria Atkins MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade: Andrew Griffith MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and Shadow Minister for Equalities: Claire Coutinho MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: Helen Whately MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Transport: Gareth Bacon MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport: Stuart Andrew MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology: Alan Mak MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Shadow Minister of State for Energy and Net Zero: Andrew Bowie MP

·        Shadow Secretary of State for Wales and Shadow Minister for Women: Mims Davies MP

·        Opposition Chief Whip (Commons): Dame Rebecca Harris MP

·        Shadow Leader of the House of Commons: Jesse Norman MP

·        Shadow Leader of the House of Lords: Lord True

·        Co-Chairmen of the Party: Nigel Huddleston MP & Lord Johnson

·        Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Richard Fuller MP

That’s 24 “shadow cabinet” members out of 121 Conservative MP’s. Only the Leader of the Opposition, Opposition Chief Whip, and Opposition Deputy Chief Whip receive a salary for their opposition roles, in addition to their salaries as MPs.

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Onwards!!

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