Walking around the Labour conference on Monday, Jeremy Corbyn was handed a placard and almost by instinct held it up for the cameras. There was just one problem: the placard was protesting at one of Corbyn’s own decisions.
The placard, at the stall of the Labour Campaign for Mental Health, was demanding the return of the post of shadow minister for mental health.
This new, cross-departmental position was created by Corbyn, and filled by the Labour MP Luciana Berger. But when she stepped down in June amid a rush of shadow cabinet resignations, the role was subsumed into the wider health portfolio.
Victoria Desmond, from the Labour Campaign for Mental Health, said Corbyn had previously said he wanted to make the role distinct again, but nothing had been done. The campaign’s stall at the conference was focused on the issue, including a petition asking Corbyn to act.
Desmond said that, as the Labour leader toured the stalls, her team saw their chance and pounced, handing Corbyn the placard. “We could hear his advisers saying, ‘Put the placard down, Jeremy’,” she said. “But he said he supported us and wanted to hold it.”
With Corbyn’s opinion now immortalised for the cameras, the campaign hopes he will soon appoint a new shadow minister. “It was a successful day,” Desmond said.
