Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom)

The Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, or His Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition Shadow Cabinet, but usually simply the Shadow Cabinet, is the committee of senior members of the Official Opposition who scrutinise the work of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. Each Shadow Cabinet member is typically given a position which corresponds to that of a government minister in Cabinet.

Composition

Shadow Cabinet members, commonly known as shadow ministers, are usually appointed by the leader of the Opposition (currently Kemi Badenoch). The roles of shadow ministers are to develop alternative policies, hold the government to account for its actions and responses, and act as spokespeople for the opposition party in their own specific policy areas. By convention, shadow ministers are drawn either from serving members of the House of Commons or the House of Lords, with most chosen from the former. Since July 2024, the Conservative Party has been the Official Opposition, and its leadership therefore forms the current Shadow Cabinet.

Not all opposition frontbenchers are members of the Shadow Cabinet, which is composed of the most senior opposition members (usually they number around twenty).

The leader of the Opposition, the Opposition chief whip and Opposition deputy chief whip are the only members of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons to be paid for their opposition roles in addition to their salaries as members of Parliament. The leader of the Opposition and the Opposition chief whip in the House of Lords also receive a salary.

Other parties may also form frontbench teams of spokespeople which may be referred to as shadow cabinets by the party (e.g. the Liberal Democrats in 2019), but these are not part of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet.

Current Shadow Cabinet

As of November 2024^[update], the members of the shadow cabinet are:

His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Minister Constituency		Office(s)	Shadows
Shadow Cabinet ministers
	Kemi Badenoch MP for North West Essex	Leader of the Opposition	Prime Minister
	Mel Stride MP for Central Devon	Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer	Chancellor of the Exchequer
	Priti Patel MP for Witham	Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs	Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
	Chris Philp MP for Croydon South	Shadow Home Secretary	Home Secretary
	James Cartlidge MP for South Suffolk	Shadow Secretary of State for Defence	Secretary of State for Defence
	Robert Jenrick MP for Newark	Shadow Secretary of State for Justice	Secretary of State for Justice
	Alan Mak MP for Havant	Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology	Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
	Edward Argar MP for Melton and Syston	Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care	Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
	Kevin Hollinrake MP for Thirsk and Malton	Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government	Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
	Victoria Atkins MP for Louth and Horncastle	Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	Jesse Norman MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire	Shadow Leader of the House of Commons	Leader of the House of Commons
	The Lord True	Shadow Leader of the House of Lords	Leader of the House of Lords
	Andrew Griffith MP for Arundel and South Downs	Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade	Secretary of State for Business and Trade
	Claire Coutinho MP for East Surrey	Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Shadow Minister for Equalities	Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Minister for Women and Equalities
	Helen Whately MP for Faversham and Mid Kent	Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions	Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
	Laura Trott MP for Sevenoaks	Shadow Secretary of State for Education	Secretary of State for Education
	Gareth Bacon MP for Orpington	Shadow Secretary of State for Transport	Secretary of State for Transport
	Stuart Andrew MP for Daventry	Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport	Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
	Alex Burghart MP for Brentwood and Ongar	Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster	Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
	Andrew Bowie MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland	Secretary of State for Scotland
	Mims Davies MP for East Grinstead and Uckfield	Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Shadow Minister for Women	Secretary of State for Wales Minister for Women and Equalities
	Rebecca Harris MP for Castle Point	Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Commons	Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
	Richard Fuller MP for North East Bedfordshire	Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury	Chief Secretary to the Treasury
	Richard Holden MP for Basildon and Billericay	Shadow Paymaster General	Paymaster General

See also

• His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition (United Kingdom)
• Official Opposition frontbench
• List of British shadow cabinets
• List of shadow holders of the Great Offices of State
• Cabinet of the United Kingdom

References

1. "Shadow cabinet". Institute for Government. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2022. The shadow cabinet is made up of senior members of the main opposition party in Westminster, who act as spokespeople for the opposition in specific policy areas. Their job is to scrutinise those they 'shadow' in government, and develop policies for their party.
2. "Announcing the new Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet". Liberal Democrats. 25 December 2019. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
3. Mitchell, Archie; Cooke, Millie; Maddox, David; Kate, Devlin (5 November 2024). "Who makes up Kemi Badenoch's newly-appointed shadow cabinet?". The Independent. Retrieved 5 November 2024.

External links

• His Majesty's Official Opposition – official UK Parliament webpage