After losing 12 members of his Shadow Cabinet on Sunday and with a vote of no confidence looming, there was speculation that Jeremy Corbyn would have a hard time filling the vacancies. However, this morning Labour have announced his new Shadow Cabinet recruits. The list of ten new appointments is comprised of many known Corbyn loyalists, as well as a round of new MPs who came through in the 2015 General Election:
Emily Thornberry has been promoted to Shadow Foreign Secretary, while Diane Abbott has been given the role of Shadow Health Secretary. Pat Glass’s EU gaffe (in which she called a voter a ‘horrible racist‘) seems to have done her career no harm, she has been promoted to the Education brief, replacing Lucy Powell. Meanwhile Corbyn has not yet found a new Shadow Scottish Secretary after Ian Murray — Labour’s only Scottish MP — quit yesterday.
Clive Lewis, who was elected in May 2015, has been made Shadow Defence Secretary. This means that both the Shadow Defence Secretary and Shadow Foreign Secretary are now anti-Trident. Other newbies to be handed more senior roles include Kate Osamor with Shadow International Development Secretary, and Cat Smith, who has won Gloria De Piero’s old brief of Voting Engagement and Youth Affairs.
By acting quickly and authoritatively — in stark contrast to the Labour leader’s never-ending ‘revenge reshuffle’ — Corbyn is hoping to show that he is competent and can stay in his position regardless of the antics of some of his colleagues. However, given that the rebels in Labour have a busy day of resignations planned for today, Corbyn will need to have a well-stocked sub bench if he hopes to make it to tonight’s crunch meeting of the PLP with a full cabinet in tow.
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