The latest Labour frontbencher to quit over Jeremy Corbyn’s so-called “revenge reshuffle” has accused the party leadership of dishonesty and warned that voters would be dismayed by the changes.
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But three of his Labour teammates – Jonathan Reynolds, Stephen Doughty and Kevan Jones – did, resigning from their front-bench jobs in protest to the shuffling that occurred.
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.
Party sources said Mr Dugher was sacked for “disloyalty”, and Wolverhampton MP Pat McFadden was sacked from his role as Shadow Minister for Europe for the same reason.
He kept on Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary who openly opposed Corbyn in backing a British air campaign against the Islamic State in Syria.
He then tweeted that Corbyn had replaced the sacked working class Michael Dugher with a “liberal Islington millionaire – a reference to new shadow culture secretary Emily Thornberry”.
Mr Benn, who disagrees with Mr Corbyn on key issues including bombing IS targets in Syria, denied he had been “muzzled” by Mr Corbyn after reportedly agreeing not to criticise the leader’s policy positions from the front bench.
Former London mayor Ken Livingstone said Mr Corbyn had inherited a parliamentary party which was “well to the right” of the membership, and made clear his belief that MPs should bow to the wishes of activists on the direction taken by Labour.
Mr Corbyn, a long-time campaigner against nuclear weapons, is keen to change his party’s Trident policy.
Ms Thornberry defended her suitability for the defence role and said it was “nonsense” to suggest she had been brought in to help shift the party’s stance on Trident.
“He has recognised the mandate that Jeremy Corbyn has with our members, an overwhelming mandate, and he’ll recognise his leadership on this issue”.
All the focus was on whether Corbyn would sack Benn, with rumours swirling that if he was axed, other centrists would quit the shadow cabinet en masse.
“Defence and security is important for many Labour communities across the United Kingdom and I will continue to advance the arguments for those communities”.
“I can not in good conscience endorse the worldview of the Stop the War Coalition who I believe to be fundamentally wrong in their assessment and understanding of the threats the United Kingdom faces”, he said, referring to the anti-war organisation formerly chaired by Mr Corbyn. He said: “They come from a narrow right-wing clique within the Labour Party, based around the organisation Progress”.
Daran Hill, one of Wales’ leading political consultants, said Labour felt “warm and proud” about Ms Stevens, adding that she escaped falling into any “particular faction”.
The Labour leader spoke out for the first time to defend the length of his shake-up, saying it took three days because he wanted to “listen to everybody”.
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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”.
