New Sunak appointments mean four in 10 Tory MPs are on frontbench

Conservative members are doubling up on shadow roles after election wipeout severely reduced their numbers

Four in 10 Conservative MPs are now on the party’s frontbench after the latest appointments by Rishi Sunak from the much-reduced Tory presence at Westminster.

New faces include Danny Kruger, the co-chair of the rightwing New Conservatives group, who is now a shadow defence minister, and Alicia Kearns, the former Commons foreign affairs committee chair, who has become a shadow Foreign Office minister.