Kemi Badenoch is set to clash with Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions in their first weekly showdown.
The new Tory leader will seek to exploit Labour’s difficulties in Sir Keir’s first few months in government, including a backlash against some of the Budget measures.
Ms Badenoch’s blunt and confrontational style is likely to contrast at times with the Prime Minister’s more cautious and measured approach to politics.
She will be seeking on Wednesday to make a strong first impression after succeeding Rishi Sunak as Tory leader on Saturday and making a series of shadow Cabinet appointments aimed at uniting warring factions within the party following a long internal contest.
Former leadership rivals Robert Jenrick, Dame Priti Patel and Mel Stride have been given senior roles as shadow justice secretary, shadow foreign secretary and shadow chancellor respectively, with Croydon South MP Chris Philp becoming shadow home secretary.
Ms Badenoch is a strong performer when taking on political rivals.
She can be prone to making outspoken comments which spark controversy, such as appearing to suggest at the Tory autumn rally in Birmingham this year that maternity pay is too high.
But she will be largely putting the questions to the Prime Minister, so this format could suit her.
She may be buoyed by Donald Trump appearing to be heading to victory in the US presidential election given the close ties between the Republicans and Tories.
But the Tories only have 121 MPs, compared to Labour’s 402, so the latter will be able to be the louder in the Chamber.
Ms Badenoch’s new frontbench has many new faces after several senior Tories including former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and ex-Home Secretary James Cleverly decided to return to the backbenches.
The Tories have accused Labour of failing to be transparent at the election about the scale of tax rises on the horizon after the Budget confirmed a rise in employers’ national insurance for employers.
But Mr Sunak’s government was accused by the Office for Budget Responsibility of not following the law on revealing at the March Budget the full scale of the crisis in the public finances.
In her controversial Labour Budget last week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves hiked taxes by £40 billion, is borrowing an extra £32 billion to boost public spending by some £70 billion including more than £20 billion additional for the NHS.
Sir Keir has hit by a series of controversies since becoming Prime Minister including the clothes and glasses “freebies” furore.
