Culture spokesman Michael Dugher meanwhile changed his Twitter biography to read “sacked by Jeremy Corbyn for too much straight talking, honest politics” – an ironic twist on Corbyn’s own campaign slogan. And so I sat in my office until midnight for two nights running to go through all of this and we finally completed all the appointments last night by a series of text messages whilst I was on the platform at a huge rally in support of legal aid with me and Helena Kennedy and Peter Kavanagh from Unite speaking at Conway Hall. She did not want to move.
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“We made this absolutely clear in our official statement following the attacks”. “I believe it is the right policy for the country to maintain a minimum credible nuclear deterrent”, he wrote in his resignation letter.
On his relationship with Shadow Foreign Secretary Mr Benn, he said: “I have had lots of conversations with Hilary Benn and we get on fine”.
“For the record… I was a trainee solicitor when elected, having gone to law school as a mature student and single parent”, he said. “So did Tom Watson”.
But the changes, while few, could have significant implications for the Labour Party, and for British politics.
“Those people want answers from all of us, and in particular from you”.
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. I put it to him that Unite and the GMB might feel their positions, for Trident, were being circumvented. There had been United Kingdom newspaper reports Corbyn wanted to move foreign-affairs spokesman Hilary Benn, who had contradicted him in a parliamentary debate by supporting airstrikes on Islamic State in Syria.
Not so, insisted Mr Jones.
He said: “I haven’t been muzzled”.
He said he would be carrying on with his job “exactly as before”.
“I understand your need for a greater degree of discipline on the front bench and therefore believe it would be more appropriate to advocate these causes as a backbencher”.
The Conservatives accused Labour of being a risk to national security.
“The North East is proportionately the biggest exporting region in Britain”.
“Jeremy’s position as leader is secure, he got a huge mandate – whichever of the other [Labour Leadership] candidates Jonathan Reynolds voted for, between them they didn’t come anywhere near Corbyn”.
John Woodcock said he was “losing hope” that the leadership was able – or even willing – to make sure the party stood a chance of winning the 2020 general election.
And this retweet from Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick.
Referring to the House of Commons, he said: “And this building is full of people that speak at great length”.
Corbyn is trying to move the party further to the left, to bring it into opposition to nuclear weapons and military interventions, while taking an anti-elitist line in domestic policy, focusing on inequality and more spending on social welfare. I’m afraid I don’t have confidence that will be the case.
It was “pretty disgraceful conduct from the leader of a party that seeks to govern”, he said.
“I know he will continue be a strong advocate for fairness and social justice in parliament and will serve the people of Stalybridge and Hyde vigorously from the backbenches”. He worked with forces all over the world in all sorts of warzones peacekeeping for the United Nations.
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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”.
