Sir Mel Stride and Dame Priti Patel have left the shadow cabinet as Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch carries out a major reshuffle of her top team.

In the new lineup announced ahead of the party's October conference, Andrew Griffith takes over from Sir Mel as shadow chancellor, while Tom Tugendhat replaces Dame Priti as shadow foreign secretary. Claire Coutinho, previously the shadow energy secretary, will become shadow business secretary and act as Griffith’s deputy once she returns from maternity leave.

The overhaul comes at a difficult moment for the Conservatives, with most opinion polls placing the party in third place behind Labour and Reform UK. Badenoch is aiming to use the refreshed frontbench to boost poll ratings, particularly after recent surveys suggested Reform UK had overtaken the Tories on public trust regarding the economy.

Sir Mel, who was appointed after Badenoch’s 2024 leadership victory, described his time in the role as a "great honour." Badenoch paid tribute to his work in rebuilding economic credibility, but a senior Conservative source explained that the leadership wanted a new team focused on "growth, higher living standards and fiscal credibility."

That same Tory source described Griffith as a "no-nonsense, pro-growth shadow chancellor with real business experience." Before entering Parliament as MP for Arundel and South Downs in 2019, Griffith served as a top executive at Sky and as chairman of Just Eat.

Setting out his approach, Griffith said the Conservatives would deliver "an economic revolution" through lower taxes, domestic drilling to bring energy bills down, cutting red tape, and scrapping Labour’s Employment Rights Act. He added that the party will "always back the risk-takers and wealth creators who deliver growth, investment and jobs."

Opposition parties immediately targeted Griffith’s record as a Treasury minister who defended Liz Truss's 2022 mini-budget. Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson called him "a key architect of Liz Truss's disastrous mini-Budget," saying the shadow cabinet featured figures "who hammered family finances and left our public services crumbling." Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said the appointment showed the Tories were "happy to forfeit any claim to economic credibility in their race to the bottom with Reform UK."

Dame Priti, who had served as shadow foreign secretary since 2024, is returning to the backbenches. She will take on a new international brief focused on strengthening the party's relationships with sister parties and centre-right movements abroad. Strategists felt that while familiar figures offered government experience, they also risked reminding voters of the party's 2024 general election defeat.

To challenge Labour on national security and defence, Badenoch turned to Tugendhat, a former security minister and current army reservist who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He will work alongside the shadow defence secretary as part of a coordinated security front.

Other appointments include Damian Hinds taking over as shadow health and social care secretary following Stuart Andrew's return to the backbenches. Katie Lam becomes shadow housing secretary, filling the vacancy left by Sir James Cleverly, who stepped down from the front bench to launch a bid for London mayor.

What we do not know yet is whether these changes will shift the dial with voters or reverse the party's third-place standing in the polls. I'll be following this one — check back for updates.