UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is carrying out a reshuffle of her shadow cabinet on 22 July, reversing a January pledge to leave her team unchanged until the next general election. The move follows the resignation of shadow health secretary Edward Argar, who is stepping down for medical reasons, and comes eight months after Badenoch succeeded Rishi Sunak as party leader. Party officials say the shake-up will return former foreign and home secretary Sir James Cleverly to a senior front-bench post. Cleverly, a rival in last year’s leadership contest, has sat on the back benches since November but retains high-profile experience that Badenoch hopes will strengthen the opposition’s performance against the governing Labour Party. The reshuffle is also expected to elevate Yorkshire MP Kevin Hollinrake to Conservative Party chairman, while further adjustments to economic and Lords portfolios are being finalised. Badenoch’s wider aim is to refresh a team that has struggled to cut through, with the party languishing near 17 percent in opinion polls and facing pressure from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. Full appointments are due to be announced later today. Party sources insist the changes mark the “next stage” of policy renewal and will underline unity after months of internal debate over strategy on net-zero targets, ECHR membership and economic policy.