Britain’s Opposition Labour Party found itself in the midst of a major turmoil today after three ministers resigned from the shadow cabinet revolting against party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to sack their colleagues for criticising his policies.
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But he’s thrown out two people his team believe were disloyal (Pat McFadden’s departure seems to be a particularly late creation in the reshuffle – Jeremy Corbyn didn’t even have the offending disloyal quote from Mr McFadden in front of him when he sacked Mr McFadden).
Kevan Jones then quit as a junior defence spokesman over the way his former boss Maria Eagle was shunted out of her post into the lesser culture brief and replaced with Emily Thornberry, whose views on nuclear weapons are closer to Corbyn, who opposes them.
Reynolds and Doughty stepped down from their roles after Pat McFadden was removed as shadow Europe minister for “serial disloyalty”, including what was seen as a coded attack on Corbyn’s response to the Paris terror attacks.
Earlier Mr Corbyn sacked Mr McFadden for disloyalty and moved his pro-nuclear defence spokeswoman to another job in an attempt to tighten control over his rebellious parliamentary party.
After the first two days of negotiations, Corbyn avoided a mass shadow cabinet walkout of up to 10 MPs after he reached an agreement to keep Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, in his post in return for an end to public dissent over policy.
He said: “This reshuffle shows that a divided Labour Party is a threat to national security”.
Mr Livingstone said that he hoped Labour would have a settled position before then, although he admitted the review may not conclude until the summer.
Speaking on Wednesday to the BBC’s Newsnight, Diane Abbott, shadow secretary of state for worldwide development, accused Labour MPs who quit following the shadow cabinet reshuffle of being former special advisers (SpAds) who “came up under a certain system”. I had well publicised differences with him on foreign policy and national security… but I recognised the mandate that Jeremy had been given by the party.
Mr Corbyn said: “We have a Freedom of Information Act which is very, very important because freedom of information is essential in any democracy if you are to hold to account those that exercise authority, power or administration”.
“I understand they are now before a solicitors’ tribunal…”
Eagle has now been replaced with Emily Thornberry, who agrees with Corbyn on opposing Trident.
“And I think that’s who I am, a lot of people with the Christian faith with recognise those traits in themselves whatever jobs they do”. Invading more countries in the Middle East?
He believes this was interpreted as an attack on the Stop the War Coalition, which Mr Corbyn used to chair.
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“But don’t underestimate the determination of the Labour Party to achieve on housing, achieve on social justice, achieve on a developing economy, achieve on manufacturing”. While David Cameron has Theresa May as Home Secretary, in Labour the roles of leader, Shadow Chancellor, Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Foreign Secretary are all still occupied by men.
