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| Jeremy Corbyn to continue Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle - live | Jeremy Corbyn to continue Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle - live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 8.30am BST | |
| 08:30 | |
| Jeremy Corbyn has appointed people to shadow cabinet from opposing side of leadership campaign, says new shadow Welsh secretary Jo Stevens | |
| New shadow Welsh secretary Jo Stevens has been defended Mr Corbyn’s appointments, on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, saying he had reached out to political opponents. | |
| I didn’t support Jeremy in the leadership election, neither did Keir Starmer, neither did Nia Griffith and I don’t think Sarah Champion did either. | |
| He has made appointments to his shadow cabinet from the opposing part of the leadership campaign. | |
| I was one of the senior people in Owen Smith’s leadership campaign, and he’s offered me a post on the shadow cabinet. | |
| Good leadership is about listening, influencing, persuading and an element of compromise. | |
| Jeremy has admitted he’s made mistakes and he will try and do things differently. I think we ought to give him that opportunity. | |
| Stevens, who supported Owen Smith during the leadership contest, also suggested Corbyn wouldn’t use reshuffle to try change trident position. She said the decision had been made on Trident and she did not expect it to be revisited. | |
| She and Mr Corbyn both voted against renewing Trident, although the Labour Party policy is to renew the UK’s nuclear deterrent. | |
| Former shadow defence secretary Clive Lewis, who backs renewing Trident, has been moved to business, energy and industrial strategy. It is understood he was moved away from defence due to this difference in policy. | |
| 8.20am BST | |
| 08:20 | |
| My colleague Heather Stewart has been talking to MPs about their thoughts following the shadow cabinet reshuffle. She sends this: | |
| Labour MPs are privately expressing concern about Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet reshuffle, claiming it doesn’t represent the “olive branch” he pledged to offer rebel backbenchers in the wake of the bitter leadership battle. | |
| The sacking of Labour’s chief whip Rosie Winterton, who had been pursuing talks about electing some members of the shadow cabinet in a bid to bring refuseniks back on board, was greeted with dismay among moderate MPs. There was also disquiet about Corbyn’s promotion of his close political ally Diane Abbott. | |
| One senior Labour MP said, “rather than balance and equilibrium, they’ve gone for control, and a straight power grab”. Another MP who had been expected to return to the front bench, warned that the appointments so far make Labour look too London-centric, with Corbyn, his shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, home Secretary Diane Abbott and chancellor John McDonnell, all representing constituencies in the capital. “It’s looking a bit like a government of north London, for north London, by North London”, he said. | |
| However, Corbyn’s team stressed the number of MPs from northern seats in other roles - and pointed out that more appointments are expected to come today. John Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw, is tipped for a return; and Leicester MP Jon Ashworth, is thought to be considering accepting a more senior role. | |
| 8.15am BST | |
| 08:15 | |
| Here’s what we know so far on the Labour shadow cabinet, we will update as more news comes in: | |
| Diane Abbott, shadow home secretary | |
| Jeremy Corbyn gave a top job to Diane Abbott in shadow cabinet reshuffle, replacing Andy Burnham. Abbott has been one of Corbyn’s closest supporters, and this is the third shadow cabinet post that she has held since he took over as leader a year ago. | |
| Shami Chakrabarti, shadow attorney general | |
| Chakrabarti, the 47-year-old former director of the human rights organisation Liberty, takes up the role of shadow attorney general just five months after becoming a member of the Labour Party. | |
| Nominated by Corbyn for a peerage in August, Chakrabarti’s promotion may be controversial in some areas as some critics of the Labour leader branded her inquiry into anti-semitism in the party a “whitewash”. | |
| Nick Brown, chief whip | |
| Nick Brown is not new to the role of chief whip. He first held the post in 1997-98 under Tony Blair, before becoming a key “fixer” for Gordon Brown and playing a role in the ousting of Blair. | |
| He replaces Dame Rosie Winterton, who became a popular chief whip, holding the job for six years under three different leaders. | |
| Keir Starmer, shadow Brexit secretary | |
| The former director of public prosecutions is one of the new intake of MPs to be handed jobs in Corbyn’s cabinet, taking the role of shadow Brexit secretary. | |
| He backed remain during the EU referendum campaign and his appointment as Brexit secretary indicates that Labour will seek to strongly oppose Britain leaving the EU, after criticism that Corbyn was half-hearted in his campaigning on the issue. | |
| Clive Lewis, spokesman for business, energy and industrial strategy | |
| Another of 2015’s intake, Lewis is moving from defence to shadow spokesman for business, energy and industrial strategy. He replaces Jon Trickett. | |
| The shift follows a high-profile row over Trident at Labour conference, where he announced that Labour would not be ditching its support, despite Corbyn’s longstanding opposition to nuclear weapons. | |
| Sarah Champion, shadow minister for women and equalities | |
| The Rotherham MP, who resigned from Corbyn’s front bench in the referendum’s aftermath but returned within weeks, becomes shadow minister for women and equalities. Since her return to Corbyn’s team in July she had served as shadow minister for preventing abuse and domestic violence, but she made headlines during conference when it emerged that she had been arrested following a row with her husband. | |
| Jo Stevens, shadow welsh secretary | |
| Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens becomes shadow Wales secretary, having formerly held a justice brief. Stevens did not to resign from Corbyn’s front bench in July, but did back Owen Smith in the recent leadership contest. | |
| Nia Griffith, shadow defence secretary | |
| The former shadow Welsh secretary takes on the defence brief. Griffith was among the shadow cabinet members to resign in June and backed Owen Smith’s leadership bid, although she returned to the shadow cabinet in September. Griffith has been tipped as a potential candidate for the defence post since January, thanks to her opposition to Trident. | |
| 7.47am BST | 7.47am BST |
| 07:47 | 07:47 |
| Good morning! With heavy heart I have to tell you that the inimitable Andrew Sparrow will not be at the helm of the liveblog today, he has a well-earned day off. But as ever we’ll be here, keeping you up to date with the major developments of the day. | Good morning! With heavy heart I have to tell you that the inimitable Andrew Sparrow will not be at the helm of the liveblog today, he has a well-earned day off. But as ever we’ll be here, keeping you up to date with the major developments of the day. |
| We’ll get more Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle news and reaction, as well as taking a look at the fallout from yesterday’s Ukip fisticuffs. | We’ll get more Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle news and reaction, as well as taking a look at the fallout from yesterday’s Ukip fisticuffs. |