Tuesday, September 01, 2026
Tories tack right as they seek to compete with Reform
As the Independent reports the Tory leader has ruthlessly sacked her shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride and replaced him with one of the architects of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-Budget.
The paper says that the new shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith was financial secretary to the Treasury – number three in the department – when Ms Truss’s mini-Budget caused a run on the gilt market and almost bankrupted the country.
They say that Griffith was a strong advocate of the former prime minister’s plans to slash taxes and his appointment appears to be an indication that Ms Badenoch wants the party to take a more aggressive direction after the cautious approach of Sir Mel:
The Tory leader has consistently refused to apologise for the Truss mini-Budget or throw the former PM out of the party.
Now she has put one of her key lieutenants and supporter of the hardcore tax-cutting approach in charge of economic policy as she tries to take on Nigel Farage and Reform.
In a hint that he still supports the Truss approach to the country’s finances, Mr Griffiths pointedly tweeted: “The Conservatives will always back the risk-takers and wealth creators who deliver growth, investment and jobs.”
He tweeted: “It is a huge honour to become shadow chancellor for the party I joined as a teenager under Margaret Thatcher. Working as a team, we Conservatives will deliver an economic revolution.
“We will deliver lower, simpler taxes, get Britain drilling again to bring down energy costs, slash the red tape holding Britain back, and scrap the job-killing measures in Labour’s (Un)Employment Rights Act.”
As the Liberal Democrats deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper say: “Griffith helped deliver the Truss mini-budget that sent mortgages soaring and the economy into turmoil.
It’s clear Conservatives haven't learned a thing. His appointment to shadow chancellor shows they're happy to forfeit any claim to economic credibility in their race to the bottom with Reform UK.”
If Badenoch thinks that tacking right to court Reform voters will win her the next election then she has failed to learn the lessons of the Tories 2024 general election defeat.
