Kemi Badenoch sacked Sir Mel Stride as shadow chancellor and removed Dame Priti Patel from the foreign affairs brief on Monday, promoting Andrew Griffith and Tom Tugendhat in a reshuffle carried out a day before parliament returns and days after Sir James Cleverly quit her front bench to run for London mayor. Elsewhere, Andy Burnham committed to ending indefinite jail terms, 23 business organisations urged John Swinney to abandon his food price cap, and the Liberal Democrats warned of an exodus of teachers. This is UKFCP's 24 hours in politics round-up.
The Commons returns on Tuesday after the summer recess, six weeks into Burnham's premiership and with the Conservatives third in most polls behind Labour and Reform UK. The justice secretary is due to make a statement on sentencing the same day that Swinney sets out his programme for government at Holyrood.
Badenoch rebuilds her top team
Griffith moves from business to the Treasury brief, with Tugendhat taking the foreign affairs portfolio and Claire Coutinho switching from energy to business. Julia Lopez will cover for Coutinho during maternity leave until the new year, according to the Independent, and Richard Fuller becomes shadow chief secretary to the Treasury. Stride and Patel were the latest in a run of exits that also included shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew.
Badenoch said Stride "brought experience, seriousness and stability when those things were badly needed". Patel said her move to a new party role co-ordinating with centre-right parties abroad would also give her "greater freedom to stand up" for her Essex constituency. A senior Tory source told the Independent that Griffith was chosen for his "incredibly impressive financial and business background".
Burnham to legislate away IPP sentences
The Prime Minister told the BBC he would end imprisonment for public protection sentences within this parliament, describing it as a "common sense" approach. More than 2,000 people remain in prison on the indefinite terms, which were abolished for new offenders in 2012, and converting some to fixed release dates is intended to free up capacity. The justice secretary will set out the plans to MPs on Tuesday.
The move followed a further narrowing of the separate early release scheme to exclude those convicted of manslaughter, after a campaign by the family of PC Andrew Harper. Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy said Burnham was "looking at releasing a different group of dangerous prisoners" to avoid releasing another. Labour's John McDonnell called the announcement a breakthrough against a "grotesque injustice".
Business groups move against Scotland's food price cap
Twenty-three organisations representing retail, food production and distribution, employing more than 300,000 people in Scotland, wrote to the First Minister on Monday calling the proposed statutory cap "unnecessary, ineffective, and likely to deliver significant adverse consequences". Signatories included the Scottish Retail Consortium, Food and Drink Federation Scotland and the Association of Convenience Stores.
Ewan MacDonald-Russell of the Scottish Retail Consortium told BBC Radio Scotland the plan was "an appallingly terrible idea" that would displace costs elsewhere. Swinney, who has pledged to cap the price of up to 50 essential items before the end of the year, said the policy was unchanged. A Scottish government spokesperson said a consultation would launch shortly.
Cleverly accuses Burnham of a 'war on London'
Cleverly used his pitch for the Conservative mayoral candidacy to accuse the Prime Minister of waging a "war on London" and of "centralising power in his own backyard" of Manchester through his devolution programme. He resigned as shadow housing secretary on Saturday, a year after taking the brief.
Labour said Sadiq Khan was "continuing to deliver the better future Londoners all want to see", citing free school meals, council homes and falling knife crime, and dismissed "more failed Tories" claiming to stand up for people they had failed.
Also in the last 24 hours
- Almost half of teachers surveyed by the Liberal Democrats in England said they were considering leaving the profession within five years, with the party urging Education Secretary Lucy Powell to fully fund the pay award and cap overtime; the Department for Education said last year saw the lowest leaving rate since 2010.
- NHS England announced free pin-prick cholesterol tests at around 100 pharmacies for people aged 40 to 84, part of a plan to cut heart disease and stroke deaths by a quarter within ten years.
- The Guardian reported that Burnham's return to parliament brings decisions on North Sea drilling, electoral reform and defence spending, after a summer dominated by cost-of-living announcements.
- Reform UK heads to its annual conference in Birmingham next week after what the Guardian described as a season of missteps over Clacton, funding and internal divisions.
- Writing for the Guardian, John McTernan argued the Ministry of Defence should be treated as one department among many, framing the spending fight facing Chancellor John Healey.
The Commons sits from 2.30pm on Tuesday, with Foreign Office questions, the justice secretary's sentencing statement and Swinney's programme for government all falling on the same day.
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