A Labour frontbencher has quit after party leader Jeremy Corbyn sacked two senior figures and promoted a Trident opponent in a so-called “revenge reshuffle”.
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One shadow cabinet minister reportedly warned as many as eight colleagues could quit if Mr Benn, who angered Mr Corbyn with an impassioned Commons appeal for votes in favour of air strikes, was also removed from his role.
Shadow Culture Secretary Michael Dugher and shadow Europe Minister Pat Fadden. Jones was replaced as defence minister by the MP for Blackburn, Kate Hollern.
Other resignations have not been ruled out.
Causes of terrorism Europe shadow secretary Mr McFadden said he had been sacked in part because of comments he made in parliament seemingly at odds with statements Mr Corbyn had made on the causes of terrorism.
The labour leader had faced a mass walk-out of 10 MPs if Benn had been replaced. And we have had a long discussion about how we approach foreign policy issues.
Benn said: “I haven’t been muzzled”.
Britain’s opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has sacked his European Union policy chief for disloyalty and moved his pro-nuclear defence spokeswoman to another job in an attempt to tighten control over his rebellious parliamentary party.
He said Ms Eagle’s replacement, Emily Thornberry knew nothing about defence and said concerns about her appointment raised by the deputy Labour leader, Tom Watson, had been ignored.
Mr Corbyn has already faced a storm of criticism over his decision to purge his shadow cabinet of those who do not share his hard-left views.
Thornberry’s patriotism was immediately attacked by Tories who highlighted how she received a donation from a law firm accused of pursuing false torture claims against British soldiers.
The former human rights barrister defended Leigh Day – which funded a legal research assistant for her office during her time as shadow attorney general to the tune of £14,500 – as an “outstanding firm”.
Paraphrasing Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, a poem in which an albatross carries a curse on the crew of a ship, Mr Cameron said: “Never mind how many Eagles we end up with, I think you have all worked out you’ve got an albatross at the head of your party”.
“I think the sacking of Michael Dugher is not giving me any great confidence that that is going to be the case”.
“My great failing in life is to listen to everybody at whatever greater length they wish to speak to me”, he said.
Emily Thornberry, who like Corbyn is a London MP and opposed to the replacement of the Trident nuclear defence system, has been installed as Shadow Defence Secretary. He said: “They come from a narrow right-wing clique within the Labour Party, based around the organisation Progress”.
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The shadow chancellor said Mr McFadden had “distorted” the Labour leader’s views on a number of occasions and turned it into a “personalised” attack.
