The Conservatives, reeling from a General Election which left them with just 121 MPs, have revealed their new shadow cabinet.

The shadow housing secretary is right wing leadership contender Kemi Badenoch.

She will shadow deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who also has the Housing Secretary of State brief.

Housing has become one of the issues on which the new Labour landslide government is making rapid progress; just yesterday it revealed that it was restoring mandatory housebuilding targets with the aim of building 1.5m homes by the end of this parliament – including affordable and council homes.

It is also creating a new task force to accelerate stalled housing sites, starting with 14,000 new homes across Liverpool Central Docks, Worcester, Northstowe and Langley Sutton Coldfield; and is beefing up planning with 300 new officers in local councils and a review of some applications previously turned down that could help the economy.

Badenoch – a former business and trade minister – has long been touted as a potential successor to outgoing party leader Rishi Sunak.

It is not yet known when the Conservative leadership race proper will begin nor what format it will take.