Jeremy Corbyn has put the finishing touches to his frontbench reshuffle, appointing six new junior shadow ministers the day after three resigned in protest at the Labour leader’s reorganisation of his shadow cabinet.
Jonathan Reynolds, Stephen Doughty and Kevan Jones resigned in quick succession on Wednesday after it was announced that two frontbenchers were to be sacked for disloyalty and a third was to be moved to clear the way for Labour to oppose the renewal of Trident nuclear weapons.
Reynolds and Doughty stepped down from their roles after Pat McFadden was removed as shadow Europe minister for “serial disloyalty”, including what was seen as a coded attack on Corbyn’s response to the Paris terror attacks.
Jones resigned as a shadow defence minister after Corbyn replaced his boss, Maria Eagle, who is pro-Trident, with the anti-Trident Emily Thornberry in the role of shadow defence secretary. Jones said there was “nothing straightforward or honest” about the way in which the changes were made.
A Labour source said the leadership was relaxed about the response of MPs to the shakeup and did not believe there would be any significant resignations. The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, described the shadow junior ministers who had resigned as a “a narrow rightwing clique”.
Andy McDonald, the MP for Middlesbrough, has been made a shadow transport minister to replace Reynolds, who served as shadow railways minister before his resignation.
Fabian Hamilton, the MP for Leeds North East, has been made a shadow foreign minister to replace Doughty, who resigned from the post live on TV. Jones was replaced as defence minister by the MP for Blackburn, Kate Hollern.
Hollern has previously expressed support for Trident renewal. She told the Lancashire Telegraph in October: “When I was younger I was very anti-nuclear weapons. Times change and I support the need for some kind of nuclear deterrent with a resurgent Russia and more nuclear-armed powers.”
Labour also announced the appointment of Jenny Chapman, the MP for Darlington and vice-chair of the Blairite organisation Progress, to shadow education minister; Jo Stevens, the new MP for Cardiff Central, as shadow justice minister, and Angela Rayner, the new MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, as a shadow work and pensions minister.
After nearly two days of negotiations, Corbyn avoided a mass shadow cabinet walkout of up to 10 MPs after he reached an agreement to keep Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, in his post in return for an end to public dissent over policy.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, McDonnell said the Labour leadership would expect “collective responsibility” from the party’s frontbenchers from now on. “Jeremy will represent the parliamentary Labour party on the frontbench. If there’s a disagreement and people – on a free vote – want to express their views, they’ll do it from the backbenches,” he said.
