Jonathan Reynolds, Stephen Doughty and Kevan Jones resigned in quick succession on Wednesday after it was announced that two frontbenchers were to be sacked for disloyalty and a third was to be moved to clear the way for Labour to oppose the renewal of Trident nuclear weapons.
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Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, a close ally of Mr Corbyn, told journalists the discussions over Ms Eagle’s position had been resolved “amicably” and “she is a happy person”.
Jeremy Corbyn has completed a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet by sacking his Europe spokesman, but keeping Hilary Benn as shadow foreign secretary.
Mr Jones accused Mr Corbyn of “undermining” Maria Eagle, who was moved to culture in the reshuffle because of her opposition to scrapping Trident.
Corbyn, a man of the far left who in September became Labour leader in a major surprise, has been facing severe criticism of his policies and party management from Labour members of Parliament, few of whom support him.
Asked for Mr Corbyn’s reaction to the resignations, a senior Labour source said: “He will be thanking those people for their service and the filling the vacancies”.
Jeremy Corbyn has compared his reshuffle to playing three chess games at once – as he revealed he eventually signed it off by text. “We feel it is wrong, however, for politicians to pretend that there is no connection between British and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and South Asia, and the increase in terrorism over the past decade or more”.
He said: “I actually wrote what I thought”.
Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, whose position was rumoured to be under threat following his impassioned Commons speech urging military action in Syria, will remain in his role.
LONDON (AP) The role of an opposition should be to challenge the government, but Britain’s Labour Party has begun the new year at war with itself as leader Jeremy Corbyn struggles to assert his authority over restive lawmakers. Friends denied conditions had been put on his continued shadow cabinet membership. Whereas in addition to that, Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell also commented that “Michael is a formidable campaigner who has provided an important and authentic voice to the shadow cabinet”.
“In the current anti-politics environment, I suspect one of the reasons why Jeremy did so well in the summer selection was because people were looking for an authentic politician”.
“Mr McDonnell said: “(Mr Corbyn) is re-dictating the terms of what leadership is all about.
He told the Today programme: “He said he felt it was an attack on him and that he had come to the conclusion because of that and one or two other things that I shouldn’t continue”.
He said there had been “nothing straightforward or honest” in the conduct of the reshuffle and claimed Labour was being run in a “very top-down” manner.
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Former Labour leadership candidate Chuka Umunna said: “Sad to see Jonathan Reynolds leave our front bench – a huge talent who will now make a big contribution promoting Labour values from the back benches”.
