UK: Corbyn appoints new shadow cabinet

UK Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has replaced 10 of the shadow ministers who resigned (or were sacked in Hilary Benn’s case) in the past few hours.

The reshuffle involved moving Emily Thornberry from shadow defence minister to shadow foreign secretary, and replacing her with the new MP for Norwich South, Clive Lewis.

Diane Abbott was also promoted to shadow health secretary.

But soon after the new shadow cabinet was announced, two more Labour parliamentary private secretaries resigned.

And the Labour party’s leaders in the House of Lords are set to refuse to attend meetings of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, the Press Association reported.

Baroness Smith of Basildon, the Labour leader in the Lords, and Lord Bassam, the chief whip, are both in post because of elections within the ranks of the party’s peers - rather than being appointed by Corbyn.

A source said that they had taken “soundings” from the party’s peers and it was likely they would boycott shadow cabinet meetings while Corbyn remains as leader.

Tom Watson, the Labour deputy leader, is due to meet Corbyn for talks later today.

Watson hinted yesterday that he will tell Corbyn it is time to go, but Corbyn’s allies are saying that the leader will say he is carrying on.

Twelve members of the Labour shadow cabinet left office yesterday amid a series of staggered resignations and demands that Corbyn make way for a pro-EU candidate who can fight against the British public’s demand for Brexit.

Deputy leader Tom Watson, will today hold crisis talks with Corbyn, who is being propped up by the trade unions despite losing the backing of most Labour MPs.

The Labour turmoil came amid another day of unprecedented political and constitutional crisis, which saw Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warn that she would seek to use legal powers vested in the Scottish Parliament to block Brexit.

George Osborne will today make a statement to reassure the financial markets that the government is ready to intervene amid growing fears that the panicked response of British and European political leaders to the referendum threatens to spark a major economic crisis.

Boris Johnson warned on Sunday that the “negative consequences” of an EU exit are being “wildly overdone” by those who seek to overturn the result.

He stressed that those campaigning for Leave wished to retain a free-trade relationship with the EU and remain part of the single market.

Johnson also rejected suggestions that the result was invalid, warning that people who voted for a Brexit were “speaking up for democracy, and the verdict of history will be that the British people got it right”.

In an attempt to reach out to people who voted to stay in the EU, Johnson wrote: “They cannot be simply written off as the irrelevant victims of a binary choice. We who are part of this narrow majority must therefore do everything we can to reassure the Remainers.

“We must reach out, we must heal, we must build bridges – because it is clear that some have feelings of dismay, and of loss, and confusion.”

Johnson is expected to launch his leadership bid in the coming days, with Theresa May, the Home Secretary, his most likely opponent in the battle to become the next Prime Minister.

However, the emerging Conservative leadership contest was yesterday overshadowed by the Labour machinations.

The Labour shadow cabinet departures began at 1.13am yesterday morning when it emerged Corbyn had sacked his shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn after reports in the media he was leading a coup.

Alarmed by Benn’s sacking, some of the most senior figures in the party agreed to stagger resignations throughout the day in an attempt to unseat the Labour leader by exposing his lack of support.

Before 9am Heidi Alexander, the shadow health secretary, had released a resignation letter saying Corbyn did not have “the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding”.

Benn explained his decision shortly afterwards, telling BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: “He’s a good and decent man but he is not a leader.”

By 9.30pm, 11 more ministers had resigned, with more expected.

One former member of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet who resigned yesterday said the party needed an “avowedly pro-EU” leader who could push to keep Britain as close to Europe as possible during exit negotiations.

Sources said that they expect a general election before the end of the year and that they want a leader in place who will stand on a pro-EU manifesto.

They said that Corbyn will refuse to step down and will instead try and make public a planned secret vote on his future so that voters can see which MPs are trying to unseat him.

Late on Sunday evening, Corbyn issued a bullish statement and vowed to continue as leader despite the resignations.

He said: "I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me – or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them.

“Those who want to change Labour’s leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate.

“Over the next 24 hours I will reshape my shadow cabinet and announce a new leadership team to take forward Labour’s campaign for a fairer Britain - and to get the best deal with Europe for our people.”

It is thought that the Parliamentary Labour Party is hoping to select a new leader who could seek to negotiate a new British-EU deal in conjunction with sympathetic European leaders and the heads of other British regions.