Rishi Sunak has been Leader of the Opposition as Leader of the Conservative Party since 5 July 2024, following his resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the Conservative Party's defeat in the 2024 general election. He formed his shadow cabinet on 8 July 2024. Sunak will serve as Leader of the Opposition in a caretaker capacity until his successor is elected in the 2024 Conservative leadership election, which is scheduled to conclude on 2 November.
In his resignation speech, Rishi Sunak announced that he would resign as the Conservative leader once the arrangements are in place for his successor to be elected in the 2024 Conservative leadership election, possibly as late as 22 November.[1] He formed his shadow cabinet on 8 July 2024.[2] This was the party's first shadow cabinet since the Shadow Cabinet of David Cameron, which was disbanded in 2010 after Cameron formed a coalition government with Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats following that year's general election.[3]
Most members of Sunak's cabinet heading into the 2024 general election were given the same portfolios in the shadow cabinet, including former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who became shadow chancellor, and former home secretary James Cleverly, who became shadow home secretary.[3] Cameron, who previously served as foreign secretary, chose to retire from frontline politics, with his former deputy Andrew Mitchell becoming shadow foreign secretary instead.[4] Richard Holden resigned as party chairman, and was succeeded by Richard Fuller in an interim capacity outside shadow cabinet.[5]
Sunak appointed new officeholders to the portfolios held by the eleven cabinet ministers who lost their seats in the election, including Edward Argar, who became shadow justice secretary after the outgoing justice secretary Alex Chalk lost his seat, as well as Helen Whately, who became shadow transport secretary after the outgoing transport secretary Mark Harper also lost his seat.[2] Among other noteworthy appointments, Kemi Badenoch became the shadow housing, communities and local government secretary and former deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden became deputy leader of the opposition.[2][6]
On 18 July, further junior frontbench roles were appointed.[7]
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