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Ed Miliband seeks to change shadow cabinet selection Ed Miliband seeks to change shadow cabinet selection
(about 6 hours later)
Ed Miliband is seeking to change his party's rules so that he can choose who he wants to sit in the shadow cabinet. Labour leader Ed Miliband has told his MPs he wants to change the party's rules so that he can choose who sits in his shadow cabinet.
The Labour leader has decided his party's MPs should lose the right they currently have to elect the party's top team every two years. Under decades-old rules, Labour's front bench in opposition is chosen through a ballot of its MPs every two years.
Aides said that, in the past, shadow cabinet elections had distracted Labour from holding the government to account and preparing the party for power. Mr Miliband said that represented "a legacy of Labour's past in opposition".
The change would have to be approved by Labour's party conference this autumn. The plan will be discussed by Labour MPs before being put to its ruling NEC body ahead of a vote at the party conference in Liverpool in September.
Labour MPs will have the chance to debate and vote on the rule change before it is considered by the party's ruling national executive committee next month and then put to the party conference in Liverpool. The current shadow cabinet was voted in by Labour MPs in October 2010 - a month after a previous move to have a fully appointed shadow cabinet was rejected by the Parliamentary Labour Party.
The BBC's deputy political editor James Landale said that if approved it would mark a substantial increase in Mr Miliband's power of patronage over his party. The BBC's deputy political editor James Landale said that, if approved this time, it would mark a substantial increase in Mr Miliband's power of patronage over his party.
Mr Miliband appears to have won the support of his brother, former foreign secretary David Miliband, who wrote on the micro-blogging website Twitter: "Well done to Ed for grasping nettle of shadow cabinet elections."
It may not quite be a clause four moment - but for Ed Miliband the planned change to the shadow cabinet rules is a key moment.It may not quite be a clause four moment - but for Ed Miliband the planned change to the shadow cabinet rules is a key moment.
The aim is to bolster Mr Miliband's leadership but it carries with it huge risks that could have precisely the opposite result.The aim is to bolster Mr Miliband's leadership but it carries with it huge risks that could have precisely the opposite result.
The most obvious danger is that the parliamentary party or the Labour conference simply refuse to endorse the changes. Such an outcome would be a devastating and humiliating public blow to Mr Miliband and his authority.The most obvious danger is that the parliamentary party or the Labour conference simply refuse to endorse the changes. Such an outcome would be a devastating and humiliating public blow to Mr Miliband and his authority.
The second risk is that Mr Miliband fails to use the moment to shake up his frontbench team and weed out his critics.The second risk is that Mr Miliband fails to use the moment to shake up his frontbench team and weed out his critics.
To many that would look like a missed opportunity, which would risk antagonising his party without bolstering his leadership.To many that would look like a missed opportunity, which would risk antagonising his party without bolstering his leadership.
'Sensible change' Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Tessa Jowell told the BBC she had always backed the idea of an appointed shadow cabinet adding: "I think it will strengthen the shadow cabinet and I think it will underpin his authority."
Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the internal election process was a distraction from the "important task of taking the government to account and understanding why we lost the last election". And shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander told the BBC it was a "sensible change" and argued that the internal election process was a distraction from the "important task of taking the government to account and understanding why we lost the last election".
Mr Alexander denied that Mr Miliband was proposing the changes in order to rid himself of critics in his shadow cabinet. "There will continue to be mechanisms of accountability," he said. It comes ahead of a speech Mr Miliband will give to Labour's National Policy Forum on Saturday on party reform - the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is due to discuss it at its meeting on Monday.
"Leadership involves taking decisions that you judge are in the best interests of the party," he said. "I think it's a sensible change that shows that Ed Miliband is serious about engaging with the public." In his email to Labour MPs, Mr Miliband said there would be a package of changes to make the leadership "more accountable".
It would include changing party rules so that the chairman of the PLP would be part of the shadow cabinet - to ensure backbench MPs' views were reflected - and would be able to attend political cabinets when Labour was in power.
He said: "I am proud of my shadow cabinet. But shadow cabinet elections represent a legacy of Labour's past in opposition.
"Our job must be to hold the government to account and to concentrate on preparing ourselves for the next election. We should not be distracted by internal elections where we spend time speaking to ourselves rather than the country."
But left-wing Labour MP John McDonnell said he was disappointed by Mr Miliband's proposal.But left-wing Labour MP John McDonnell said he was disappointed by Mr Miliband's proposal.
"You don't demonstrate strong leadership by having a battle with your own party," he told the programme. "You don't need to browbeat your party into submission." "You don't demonstrate strong leadership by having a battle with your own party," he told the BBC.
Mr McDonnell said the whole Labour party was "willing Ed Miliband to be a success" and MPs would not want to inflict a defeat on their leader.Mr McDonnell said the whole Labour party was "willing Ed Miliband to be a success" and MPs would not want to inflict a defeat on their leader.
But he said the party's rank and file wanted more democracy. "They don't want to go back to the old days of Blair."But he said the party's rank and file wanted more democracy. "They don't want to go back to the old days of Blair."
Election history Another Labour backbencher, Jeremy Corbyn, told the BBC it was "the wrong direction of travel".
Shortly before Ed Miliband became leader, the Parliamentary Labour Party rejected proposals to change the shadow cabinet process which would have enabled the leader to choose half or a third of their team. "I do not see the need for this change, it increases the power of patronage, it reduces the accountability of the leader to Labour MPs," he said.
Shortly before Ed Miliband became leader, the Parliamentary Labour Party rejected proposals to change the shadow cabinet process, which would have enabled the leader to pick his team.
It also rejected proposals from the party's deputy leader, Harriet Harman, to make the shadow cabinet at least 50% women - instead settling for 31.5%.It also rejected proposals from the party's deputy leader, Harriet Harman, to make the shadow cabinet at least 50% women - instead settling for 31.5%.
In an interview with the Times on Friday, Ms Harman argues that a woman should always occupy one of the two most senior positions in the party.In an interview with the Times on Friday, Ms Harman argues that a woman should always occupy one of the two most senior positions in the party.
She has submitted the proposal to a review of the party, headed by Peter Hain, and told the Times it would be a "historic change".She has submitted the proposal to a review of the party, headed by Peter Hain, and told the Times it would be a "historic change".
"Since 1906, we have had a leadership team of a leader and deputy," she said."Since 1906, we have had a leadership team of a leader and deputy," she said.
"For 99 of those years we have had a men-only leadership team. Without this rule change the likelihood is that we would slip back to a men-only leadership.""For 99 of those years we have had a men-only leadership team. Without this rule change the likelihood is that we would slip back to a men-only leadership."
Last October, Labour held its first shadow cabinet elections since 1996 - with the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper topping the poll. But the former Labour minister Tom Harris said the idea was "wrong" and would have barred women for standing for the leadership last year because a woman - Ms Harman - was already the deputy leader.
Mr Miliband then allocated jobs to the 19 MPs who got the most votes. Ms Harman's office had said while an all-male leadership team would be unacceptable, an all-woman team would be possible if the party agreed to her suggestion. They said Labour could have a leader and two deputies, to ensure one member of the team was a woman.
However, a number of leading figures in the party - most notably former foreign secretary David Miliband, who was narrowly beaten to the party leadership by his brother - chose not to enter the ballot and to remain on the back benches.
Frontbench elections have been held while Labour are in opposition for more than 50 years.
Nearly all of the MPs elected in 1996 went on to hold cabinet positions in Tony Blair's government a year later.