Owen Smith, who unsuccessfully challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership of the party, has re- joined the Labour leader’s revamped frontbench as the Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary.
Mr Smith, who was an adviser to the Northern Ireland Secretary during Tony Blair’s Labour administration, is the first major position to be announced by Mr Corbyn as he re-arranges his frontbench team in the wake of the party’s electoral gains last week.
Announcing the changes to his Shadow Cabinet after last week’s general election, Mr Corbyn said: “I am delighted to announce four appointments to fill shadow cabinet vacancies. I look forward to working with the strengthened shadow cabinet as we prepare a government in waiting to carry out our manifesto for the many not the few.
“Our party is now on a permanent campaign footing in anticipation of the failure of Theresa May's attempt to establish a stable administration with the support of the DUP.
“I am therefore appointing Ian Lavery, Co-National Campaign Coordinator, to the additional role of Labour Party Chair to strengthen our campaigning and party organisation, as we prepare to contest a new general election and form the next government.”
Mr Corbyn also appointed his ally, Ian Lavery, as co-national campaign coordinator and party chairman while Dawn Butler has returned to her diverse communities brief after she resigned from the post earlier this year over Labour’s position on the triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Lesley Laird - elected as an MP last week - has been appointed Shadow Scotland Secretary and Andrew Gwynne, a prominent figure in the party’s general election effort, has now taken on the communities and local government brief, alongside his duties of coordinating Labour’s national campaigns.
More announcements are expected to be announced before the end of the week as Mr Corbyn fills positions that have been vacant since the summer of 2016 after he faced a vote of no confidence in his leadership. Earlier this week the former Labour deputy leader, Harriet Harman, urged her colleagues to accept any invitations to join Mr Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet.
