Badenoch Reshuffle!

If anyone was the action man of the last Tory administration, it was James Cleverly. Cleverly served in the Territorial Army for nearly 20 years. Rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and mobilised in support of returning soldiers during the Iraq War. Educated privately at Riverston School and Colfe's School. He earned a BA in Business from the University of West London in 1991.

Mr. Cleverly was born in 1969 in Lewisham, London, to a white surveyor father and a Sierra Leonean mother. Worked extensively in digital and print publishing before co-founding a web publishing company. He married Susie Sparks in 2000; they have two sons. The family reside in south-east London. Susie completed breast cancer treatment in 2023.

Mr. Cleverly was elected to office as an MP in May 2015 and has gone on to be re-elected with increased majorities. He rose quickly under Theresa May and Boris Johnson. After the Tories lost the election last year in July 2024, Cleverly returned to backbench politics. To sum up Cleverly one has to say he is a veteran Conservative politician with a varied background. He has served in military roles, business, and ministerial roles. He is known for his measured demeanour and has a reputation for being a bridge builder. Mr. Cleverly has held various front-line political roles. He was pipped to the post by Kemi Badenoch to be the new leader of the Tories after Rishi Sunak stepped down. He is slated to return to the front line of politics as Kemi reshuffles her shadow cabinet.

What role Mr. Cleverly will be given is not known. But according to reports, he will not be replacing Mel Stride as Shadow Chancellor. No doubt, as Ms. Badenoch reshuffles her front-line men and women like a deck of cards (couldn't help the analogy), some will stay in position, others will be moved to other positions, and some undoubtedly will be out.

So what does this reshuffling mean? What does Ms. Badenoch hope to achieve? Refresh her stale shadow cabinet? Improve her standing in the polls as the runes are reading dire for her?

I don't think Sir Keir Starmer, Nigel Farage, and Ed Davey will be losing sleep over this. I joke you not, Kemi Badenoch's party polling-wise is in dire straits, and I don't mean Mark Knopfler. I don't think there has ever been a time when the Conservatives have been in so much trouble. They are in third place, with Labour second and Reform UK top.

Another thing against Badenoch is that the Tories were in government from 2010 - 2024. From my point of view, this defeated government has to be one of the worst and most scandalous administrations we have ever had. Margaret Thatcher was controversial in her time, but this Tory administration is uniquely known for its cruelty, corruption, attacks on the poor, and 5 useless prime ministers. Under them, we had Brexit and COVID. Both events were handled badly. And how the country is today can be blamed on the Tories.

As mentioned earlier, Cleverly challenged Badenoch for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Cleverly was left out of the final two candidates to become Tory leader. Now with Cleverly allegedly back in the cabinet, what role will he be shoehorned into? What impact will his presence have on the shadow cabinet as a whole?

Does Cleverly still harbour ambitions to be a leader one day? Asked about this recently, Clevery replied: "I've forced discipline on myself, which is not to jump at something". And whatever you think of Cleverly, those are wise words for all of us.