Central Devon MP Mel Stride axed as shadow chancellor

Central Devon MP Sir Mel Stride has been removed as shadow chancellor, almost two years after Kemi Badenoch handed him the brief following her 2024 leadership win.

He has been replaced by Andrew Griffith, previously shadow business secretary, as part of a wider reshuffle of the Conservative top team ahead of October’s party conference. The other senior changes included Tom Tugendhat replacing Dame Priti as shadow foreign secretary, and James Cleverly standing down as shadow housing secretary to focus on his ambition to be the Conservative candidate in the next Mayor of London election in 2028.

Stride has been MP for Central Devon since 2010, one of the Conservatives’ most marginal seats after his majority fell to just 61 votes at the 2024 election. He previously served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions under Rishi Sunak and briefly ran for the Conservative leadership in 2024. He was knighted in Sunak’s resignation honours in April 2025.

Stride, who turns 65 in September, said: “It has been an honour to have served as Shadow Chancellor for almost two years, alongside an exceptionally strong team and a great leader in Kemi. I am especially proud of the work we have done to rebuild the Conservatives’ economic credibility – an issue on which we now consistently lead in the polls – and to have developed the start of a radical and deliverable plan to turn our economy around.”

He went on to link that record to the party’s wider prospectus for government, saying: “If we care at all about people’s living standards, about delivering world class public services, a society at peace with itself and fully protecting our country in a challenging world, then we need a credible Conservative plan to deliver far stronger economic growth. That starts with establishing fiscal responsibility and taking the tough choices on spending, allowing us to get on top of our debt and to cut taxes to support growth.”

Stride pointed to specific commitments made during his tenure, including “our pledges to abolish Stamp Duty, cut business rates and increase the incentives for people (especially young people) to work, as well as tackling the overbearing state that is so often holding us back”.

He added: “The Conservative Party must continue to champion an approach which is both radical and deliverable. It is essential that the next Conservative government does things very differently, backing business like never before and getting government out of the way.”