Kemi Badenoch celebrates after being announced as the new Conservative Party leader in central London, following the vote by MPs and party members after she beat Robert Jenrick(Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

Nottinghamshire MP Robert Jenrick takes up new role after losing Tory leadership battle

by · NottinghamshireLive

A Nottinghamshire MP is set to take on a new shadow cabinet position after narrowly missing out on becoming the leader of the Conservative party. Defeated Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick, who is the MP for Newark, has reportedly accepted the role of shadow justice secretary as part of new leader Kemi Badenoch's reshuffle.

The former business secretary was declared the winner at an event in central London on Saturday November 2, defeating rival Jenrick by 53,806 votes to 41,388. He is set to take on the brief shadowing and opposing Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

Mr Jenrick has never previously served in the Ministry of Justice, but has held a number of cabinet and ministerial posts in his decade in parliament. Jenrick, who has served as the MP for Newark since 2014, became the only Conservative MP left in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire following the July general election.

The 42-year-old resigned from his previous role of immigration minister in December 2023, arguing the now-scrapped Rwanda plan was not going far enough. He later said this decision was the only reason he had retained his Newark seat.

Mel Stride has been appointed shadow chancellor and Dame Priti Patel has been appointed shadow foreign secretary by new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch. The two former Tory leadership candidates are the first appointments Ms Badenoch has made to shadow the so-called “great offices of state”: the Foreign Secretary, Chancellor and Home Secretary.