Kemi Badenoch has started putting her top team together, with some plum jobs for her defeated leadership rivals.

And each appointment is helping us learn a lot about her, our deputy political editor Sam Coates says.

Picking Mel Stride – seen as centrist compared to Ms Badenoch’s more right-wing tendencies – as shadow chancellor suggests she “doesn’t just want fellow travellers from her wing of the party”.

It suggests she’s “prepared to listen to people who perhaps think a bit differently – and draw on a bigger set of opinions than just her own”.

As for Priti Patel as shadow foreign secretary, Sam reckons this is to reassure any sceptical right-wingers who preferred Robert Jenrick – the man she beat in the final of the leadership race.

Dame Priti – a former cabinet minister – is a “big figure” on the right “who can calm some nerves”.

And then Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, is a sign the new leader wants to prove “she can look to the future”.

Having only been an MP since 2019, the former chief secretary to the Treasury remains a relatively fresh face.

She’s joined on the education brief by Neil O’Brien, one of Mr Jenrick’s campaign managers and a pick that shows Ms Badenoch “can reach out to even people who supported her opponent”.

As for Mr Jenrick himself, he’s set for an “anxious wait” to find out which job he’s got after Ms Badenoch’s team refused to confirm reports he’s got the shadow justice secretary gig.

We should get confirmation in the morning.