New Tory chair Brandon Lewis says party is 'not quite' in a mess
2 min read
New Conservative chair Brandon Lewis today insisted the party was “not quite” in a mess as he defended Theresa May’s chaotic reshuffle.
The morning after he was tasked with turning around Tory fortunes from the grassroots up, he said: “I certainly appreciate there is a job to do.”
Mr Lewis meanwhile said the new team being put together by the Prime Minister would deliver “a really good breath of fresh air” to the Government.
Ex-education secretary Justine Greening quit yesterday while Jeremy Hunt refused to give up his Health Secretary job as the top level reshuffle stretched late into the night.
Only three people left the Cabinet in the end, while just four new faces came in. Early on in the day, Chris Grayling was mistakenly announced as the new Tory chair.
A total of 13 new vice-chairs were added to the party's campaign team however, including deputy leader James Cleverly and rising stars from the 2015 and 2017 intake such as Ben Bradley and Kemi Badenoch.
Mr Lewis said there had been a “real influx of new talent” who would “deliver fantastic work for the Government”.
Ahead of the junior ministerial appointments he added: “It hasn’t finished yet.”
“Throughout the course of the day you will see a really good breath of fresh air coming in,” the former immigration minister told Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We are very fortunate. Really good people sometimes move on to make space for other people."
Turning to his new role, Mr Lewis refused to disclose how many members the Conservative party currently had, but insisted he was “very focussed on growing our party”.
Asked if he would agree that the party was in a mess he said: "Not quite."
He added: “There’s work to do to make sure we are taking our message out there delivering and developing our party to be able to represent people from all age groups and all backgrounds.”
Keep up to date with all the New Year reshuffle moves as they happen on our live grid.
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