Gone from shadow cabinet
Hilary Benn
The shadow foreign secretary was sacked in a phone call at 1am on Sunday after making clear that he had lost faith in Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. His card had been marked since he intervened in last December’s parliamentary debate on airstrikes in Syria.
Heidi Alexander
The shadow health secretary gained fans within the party for mastering the health brief and holding Jeremy Hunt to account. As MP for Lewisham East, she backed Andy Burnham to be leader last year and emailed activists during the campaign to say that Corbyn’s election “would cause division”.
Gloria De Piero
The MP for Ashfield and former GMTV presenter was a surprise member of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet given that she is a member of the Blairite pressure group Progress. The shadow minister for young people and voter registration is seen as a prized asset because she is a working-class woman who cuts through to traditional core voters.
Ian Murray
The Scottish secretary was seen as impossible to sack because he is Labour’s only surviving MP in Scotland. Murray, 39, is a party moderate who has attempted to work with Corbyn. Colleagues say he has become increasingly vocal about Corbyn’s alleged inability to lead a campaign.
Lilian Greenwood
The shadow secretary for transport took up the job in 2011 under Ed Miliband. Closely associated with Unison, the MP for Nottingham South is one of a group of union-backed frontbenchers who believe that Corbyn cannot carry on as leader.
Lucy Powell
The shadow education secretary ran Ed Miliband’s campaign to become Labour leader. The MP for Manchester Central is the daughter of a social worker and a headteacher. Powell disclosed in September that she had not spoken to Corbyn during her previous three years in parliament. She was one of a handful of party centrists who received promotions under his leadership last year.
Kerry McCarthy
The shadow environment secretary was once seen as a Gordon Brown loyalist. The MP for Bristol East was said to be unhappy with Corbyn’s plans to scrap Trident and has expressed concerns to friends about Corbyn’s lack of leadership.
Seema Malhotra
The shadow chief secretary to the Treasury had previously remained loyal to Corbyn despite being understood to have had some personal misgivings about his ability to lead and his economic policies. The MP for Feltham and Heston is a former adviser to Corbyn critics Liam Byrne and Ian Austin.
Vernon Coaker
The shadow Northern Ireland secretary has struggled with serving in Corbyn’s team. The veteran MP for Gedling has told journalists that he felt obliged to join the shadow cabinet so that he could argue from the “centre” of the party.
Lord Falconer
Charles Falconer, the shadow justice secretary and former close associate of Tony Blair, was an incongruous fit with Corbyn. In September he upset Corbyn supporters by disagreeing with the Labour leader’s plan to strip the Bank of England of its independence. In January he publicly disagreed with the decision to sack the Europe minister, Pat McFadden.
Karl Turner
The shadow attorney general was appointed in January 2016. The MP for Kingston upon Hull East has rarely rebelled against party policy, according to the website Theyworkforyou.com. He had stepped up to replace Catherine McKinnell, who quit complaining of Labour’s “increasingly negative path”.
Chris Bryant
Chris Bryant was never a key Corbyn ally, though that did not stop him standing up for his party leader in the House of Commons. He was shadow culture secretary and turned down the defence brief over what he called major policy differences, ending up with a demotion to shadow leader of the Commons.
Lisa Nandy
The MP for Wigan since 2010 has resigned as shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change. She is seen as being on the left wing of the party, where Corbyn’s more natural allies are.
Owen Smith
Smith has been MP for Pontypridd since 2010 and was formerly a BBC radio producer. He has resigned as shadow secretary of state for work and pensions and called – with Nandy – for Tom Watson to be caretaker leader.
Angela Eagle
The MP for Wallasey is chair of Labour’s National Policy Forum, and has resigned as shadow business secretary and shadow first secretary of state. She was minister of state for pensions and ageing in the last Labour government.
John Healey
The former trade union and charity campaigner has been the MP for Wentworth and Dearne since 1997. He has resigned as shadow minister of state for housing and planning.
Nia Griffith
The Welsh Labour politician has resigned as shadow Welsh secretary after serving in the role for nine months. Griffith has been MP for Llanelli since 2005. She was born in Dublin and her family is from south Wales. Before entering parliament she worked as a teacher.
Maria Eagle
The MP for Garston and Halewood has resigned as shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport. In the last Labour government she was a minister of state for both the equalities office and the Ministry of Justice.
Kate Green
The MP for Stretford and Urmston has resigned as shadow minister for women and equalities.
Luciana Berger
The Liverpool Wavertree MP has resigned as shadow mental health minister. She backed Andy Burnham in the leadership election and was a shadow health minister under Ed Miliband.
Gone as junior shadow ministers
- Diana Johnson has resigned as a shadow foreign minister.
- Anna Turley resigned as shadow minister for civil society.
- Toby Perkins resigned as shadow armed forces minister, saying that the Labour party “needs a change at the top”.
- Yvonne Fovargue resigned from the frontbench as shadow minister for consumer affairs and science.
- Alex Cunningham resigned as shadow minister for the natural environment.
- Steve Reed resigned as a shadow local government minister.
- Roberta Blackman-Woods resigned as a shadow housing minister.
- Wayne David resigned as a shadow minister covering the Cabinet Office, Scotland and justice.
- Jenny Chapman, has resigned as shadow childcare and early years minister.
- Keir Starmer has resigned as shadow Home Office minister.
- Richard Burden has resigned as shadow minister for roads and road safety.
- Jack Dromey has resigned as shadow minister for policing.
- Thangam Debbonaire resigned as shadow culture minister.
- Susan Elan Jones resigned as shadow Wales office minister.
- Nick Thomas-Symonds resigned as shadow minister for employment.
- Sharon Hodgson resigned as a shadow minister for children.
- Melanie Onn resigned as shadow deputy leader of the Commons.
- Nic Dakin resigned as shadow minister for schools
Frontbenchers
- Stephen Kinnock resigned as parliamentary private secretary to Angela Eagle.
- Karin Smyth resigned as parliamentary private secretary to Heidi Alexander.
- Ruth Smeeth resigned as parliamentary private secretary to the shadow Northern Ireland and Scotland teams.
- Jess Phillips has resigned as a parliamentary private secretary to the shadow education team.
- Chris Matheson has resigned as a parliamentary private secretary to the shadow justice team.
- Neil Coyle has resigned as parliamentary private secretary to the shadow leader of the house.
- Matthew Pennycook has resigned as a parliamentary private secretary to the shadow housing and planning team.
- Gerald Jones has resigned as a parliamentary private secretary to the shadow Welsh secretary.
- Colleen Fletcher has resigned parliamentary private secretary to the shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs.
Staying as shadow cabinet members
Andy Burnham
The shadow home secretary has tweeted that he is not “going to take part in a coup”. Burnham, the MP for Leigh, ran for leader and lost out to Ed Miliband in 2010. He hopes to be Greater Manchester’s first directly elected mayor in a vote next May.
John McDonnell
McDonnell is seen as Corbyn’s primary ally, although the shadow chancellor was forced on Sunday morning to deny rumours that he was manoeuvring to replace his friend as leader. “I will never stand for leadership of the Labour party. If Jeremy has to stand for another leadership election, I will chair his campaign and I think the Labour party members will elect him again – but I think that’s unnecessary,” he said.
Diane Abbott
Abbott has been the Labour leader’s fiercest advocate. The now shadow health secretary did the rounds on Sunday morning’s TV shows insisting that Corbyn would not stand down as leader and would win any leadership election that was called.
Jon Trickett
The shadow secretary of state for local government told the Guardian he was 100% behind Corbyn. “We need to get on with the business of offering an alternative vision of a Britain outside the EU to the one offered by [Michael] Gove and [Nigel] Farage, which is small-minded, inward looking and chauvinistic,” he said.
Emily Thornberry
Thornberry, who represents the neighbouring constituency to Corbyn’s, told the BBC that she was surprised by the resignations and that only the shadow Scotland secretary, Ian Murray, who resigned on Sunday morning, had spoken out against Corbyn at Friday’s shadow cabinet meeting.
Lord Bassam of Brighton
A former leader of Brighton and Hove city council, Steve Bassam was made a life peer in 1997 and has been the chief whip in the House of Lords since May 2010. Bassam is refusing to back Corbyn as leader; he can’t resign from the shadow cabinet but is refusing to attend meetings until he leaves.
Angela Smith
The Labour MP for Basildon from 1997 until 2010, Lady Smith served as a Cabinet Office minister in Gordon Brown’s government. She was made a life peeress in 2010 and became leader of the opposition in the House of Lords in May 2015. Smith is refusing to back Corbyn as leader; she can’t resign from the shadow cabinet but is refusing to attend meetings until he leaves.
The new shadow cabinet appointments
Shadow foreign secretary – Emily Thornberry
Thornberry replaces Hilary Benn. She will be expected to scrutinise the process of detangling Britain from the EU and any new trade deals with the rest of the world. She resigned from the shadow cabinet during the 2014 Rochester byelection after tweeting a photograph of a council house draped in a flag of St George.
Shadow health secretary – Diane Abbott
A close friend of Corbyn’s for 40 years and the first black woman elected to the House of Commons. The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington has been a health minister before, under Ed Miliband, and is seen as a good media performer. Her abrasive style has meant that she has quite a few opponents in the parliamentary party.
Shadow education secretary – Pat Glass
The MP for North West Durham has a long-term interest in education – she was a government adviser on special needs education and was in parliament’s education select committee. Just a month ago, while campaigning to stay in the EU, she was forced to apologise after suffering her own “Gillian Duffy” moment – she called a member of the public “a horrible racist”, mistakenly thinking that a microphone had been turned off.
Shadow transport secretary – Andy McDonald
The MP for Middlesbrough was elected in 2012 following the death of Sir Stuart Bell and has been the shadow rail minister under Corbyn since January. He nominated Andy Burnham to be leader and is respected by the Corbynistas for his campaign work.
Shadow defence secretary – Clive Lewis
The newly elected MP for Norwich South has been at the centre of the Corbyn project. A former BBC reporter who served in Afghanistan, many were surprised when he was not given this brief during the last reshuffle. Seen as a future leadership contender if and when Corbyn steps down.
Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury – Rebecca Long-Bailey
Part of the 2015 intake of Corbyn supporters, the MP for Salford and Eccles was selected for the seat following a bitter internal selection process. Trained as a solicitor, she has been backed by the union Unite.
Shadow international development secretary – Kate Osamor
MP for Edmonton since May 2015. Previously a GP practice manager and trade union activist. She claimed the 2011 riots were the result of “justified” anger at racist policing and the police shooting of Mark Duggan as a “clear miscarriage of justice”.
Shadow environment, food and rural affairs secretary – Rachel Maskell
MP for York Central since May 2015. Formerly a care worker and physiotherapist as well as a trade union official. During the refugee crisis of September 2015, she called on the UK to open its doors to all refugees. A keen cyclist.
Shadow voter engagement and youth affairs – Cat Smith
MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood since 2015. Before entering parliament, she worked for Corbyn and as a policy officer for the British Association of Social Workers. She was one of the 36 Labour MPs to nominate Corbyn for leader and is often seen and heard in the media defending his leadership.
Shadow Northern Ireland secretary – Dave Anderson
The MP for Blaydon since 2005 is a former miner and care worker. He is also a former president of Unison and chairs the Labour friends of Iraq group.
