Corbyn shadow cabinet in full: ‘balanced team’, but left takes key posts
Jeremy Corbyn has completed his shadow cabinet line-up, with a boast that for the first time Labour will have a majority of women in its top team.
Sixteen of the 31-strong shadow cabinet are women, although none has been given any of the jobs generally regarded as the great offices of state.
Angela Eagle becomes shadow business secretary and has been appointed First Secretary of State, allowing her to stand in for Mr Corbyn at prime minister’s questions.
The new party leader resisted any temptation to fill the shadow cabinet with hard-left representatives in his own mould, even finding room for Tony Blair’s old flat mate Lord Falconer as well as his rival for the leadership, Andy Burnham.
Ms Eagle, seen as a conciliatory figure, once worked for the CBI.
However, two figures synonymous with Labour’s left wing get top jobs.
John McDonnell, a key aide in the Corbyn leadership campaign, is shadow chancellor.
Mr McDonnell is best known for issuing a number of provocative statements over the years including joking that he would not mind going back to the 1980s to assassinate Margaret Thatcher.
In 2003 he called for IRA “bombs and bullets” to be honoured and has said that one of his hobbies is “generally fomenting the overthrow of capitalism”.
Diane Abbott, the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons, gets the international development brief.
She has in the past voted against the Iraq war and has campaigned against the renewal of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system.
Ms Abbott told the BBC today that Labour MPs who have a “passionate commitment” to nuclear weapons will be out of step with the party under Jeremy Corbyn, but dismissed suggestions the party’s new leader would take Britain out of the EU or Nato.
John Trickett, a former leader of Leeds city council, is shadow secretary for communities and local government. Mr Trickett, one of 36 MPs to nominate Mr Corbyn for the leadership, is on the left of the party and was involved in regular Commons rebellions against Tony Blair.
Mr Corbyn said:
We have delivered a unifying, dynamic, inclusive new shadow cabinet which for the first time ever has a majority of women.
I am delighted that we have established a shadow cabinet position for mental health which is a matter I have long been interested in.
Angela Eagle’s appointment as the shadow first secretary of state means she will deputise for me when David Cameron is not available for Prime Minister’s Questions.
The shadow cabinet is a strong combination of change and continuity that will now come together to hold this government to account, starting today with this pernicious Trade Union Bill.
Mr Corbyn underlined an uneasy relationship with the media by pulling out of a planned appearance on the Andrew Marr Show yesterday, and began announcing his new shadow cabinet after the newspapers’ first editions were prepared.
Labour’s new Shadow Cabinet:
Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Party Chair and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office
Tom Watson MP
Shadow First Secretary of State, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
Angela Eagle MP
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
John McDonnell MP
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Seema Malhotra MP
Shadow Home Secretary
Andy Burnham MP
Shadow Foreign Secretary
Hilary Benn MP
Opposition Chief Whip
Rosie Winterton MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Health
Heidi Alexander MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Lucy Powell MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Owen Smith MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Maria Eagle MP
Shadow Lord Chancellor, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Lord Falconer of Thoroton
Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Shadow Minister for the Constitutional Convention
Jon Trickett MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Lisa Nandy MP
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Chris Bryant MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Lilian Greenwood MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Vernon Coaker MP
Shadow Secretary of State for International Development
Diane Abbott MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
Ian Murray MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
Nia Griffith MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Kerry McCarthy MP
Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
Kate Green MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Michael Dugher MP
Shadow Minister for Young People and Voter Registration
Gloria De Piero MP
Shadow Minister for Mental Health
Luciana Berger MP
Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
Baroness Smith of Basildon
Lords Chief Whip
Lord Bassam of Brighton
Shadow Attorney General
Catherine McKinnell MP
Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Jonathan Ashworth MP
Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning
John Healey MP
Yvette Cooper will continue her work on bringing together councils, faith groups, and community groups to respond to the refugee crisis. She will chair Labour’s task force on refugees.
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