Jeremy Corbyn may have a Shadow Cabinet and a full frontbench team, but the Labour leader doesn’t have many genuine outriders even amongst those he has given jobs to. Most frontbenchers seem rather refreshed by how happy he is for them to have open discussions at meetings: yesterday’s Shadow Cabinet meeting, for instance, was quite discursive and friendly, which was quite different to its atmosphere in the Miliband years. But most of those frontbenchers have agreed to serve because they believe it is the best thing for the Labour party, not because they want to help Corbyn.
Every leader needs a group of outriders around them, both frontbenchers and backbenchers, who are prepared to defend them, who see the world as they do, and who will go out and face the broadcasters when something has gone wrong.
So far, the most vocal Corbynites are the Islington MP’s close friend John McDonnell, his former researcher and now MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood Cat Smith, and Clive Lewis, who is now on Labour’s frontbench after just five months in Parliament.
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