UK’s Corbyn Forges Progressive Shadow Cabinet

South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck says she is looking forward to a fresh challenge after being promoted in Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet reshuffle.

In the shadow cabinet, Emily Thornberry’s comeback as shadow defence secretary was much more remarkable.

A historic change in the reshuffle was the appointment of Ms Thornberry as defence spokesman – the first supporter of unilateral nuclear disarmament in that position for three decades.

“I can not in good conscience endorse the worldview of the Stop the War Coalition who I believe to be fundamentally wrong in their assessment and understanding of the threats the United Kingdom faces”, he said, referring to the anti-war organisation formerly chaired by Mr Corbyn.

He also revealed that he stayed up until midnight on Monday and Tuesday night speaking with shadow ministers or potential candidates who wanted to talk about their roles.

And just as the Test Match ended in a draw, so too did the battle between Mr Corbyn and his enemies in the Labour Party.

Mr Reynolds, who represents Stalybridge and Hyde, told Premier’s News Hour he had no option: “If you’re going to be on the front bench of one of the two big parties you have to go along with more of a collective position, that’s how our system works”.

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.

Labour backbencher Wes Streeting said he was “gutted” by the news, branding Mr Corbyn and his team a “shower”.

Before the reshuffle there was a widely held attitude within Labour that they needed to try and make the best of things with Corbyn.

The changes, finalised at 12.45am, sparked dismay from some Labour MPs, but were far less dramatic than some had predicted, with Blairites such as shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer retaining their posts.

“She said: “(I have) absolutely no idea where (the speculation) came from.

“The people who are running the Labour Party, I’m afraid, are not doing so in a manner that is likely to put us anywhere near being able to be a credible force at the next election”, he said.

The Labour leader said: “Hilary and I did not agree on Syria, that is very obvious”.

She added: “I have actually quite a lot more experience than people might think I do”. And we have had a long discussion about how we approach foreign policy issues.

Benn kept his job as Corbyn tried to forge unity with the party’s more moderate members, but three junior ministers in Labour’s “shadow cabinet”, which mirrors the government, resigned over their differences with the leader.

McFadden claimed he had been sacked because of comments he had made in parliament regarding the causes of terrorism, adding that Corbyn had taken a disagreement on the issue as a personal attack.