Labour party

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Labour complains about shadow minister’s resignation on BBC

The Labour party has this evening complained about the BBC arranging for Stephen Doughty to announce his resignation on the Daily Politics. A spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn said: ‘By the BBC’s own account, BBC journalists and presenters proposed and secured the resignation of a shadow minister on air in the immediate run-up to Prime Minister’s Questions, apparently to ensure maximum news and political impact. That was evidently done before any notice of resignation was sent to the Labour leader. ‘Such orchestration of political controversy is an unacceptable breach of the BBC’s role and statutory obligations ‘Trust in the impartiality and independence of the BBC is essential. The BBC’s role is

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Corbyn sacked Michael Dugher while ally Tom Watson was out of the country

Michael Dugher was sacked while his key ally and Labour deputy leader Tom Watson was out of the country, Coffee House has learned. Jeremy Corbyn’s reshuffle may have been limited, but it included a clear attempt to undermine alternative Shadow Cabinet powerbases, including the notion that Tom Watson can protect his allies on the frontbench. But Labour’s Deputy Leader was on holiday in Lanzarote when the reshuffle started, apparently unaware that there was going to be a reshuffle at the start of the week when Parliament was still in recess. I understand that he was told that Dugher would be sacked on Monday night. The Shadow Culture Secretary lost his

Thursday

Steerpike

News from Labour: Labour says Labour is pro-women

It’s safe to say this week hasn’t been the best for Labour. As well as a never-ending reshuffle saga, Corbyn was accused of ‘low-level non-violent misogyny’ over the lack of women in the top roles in his Shadow Cabinet by Labour MP Jess Phillips. So with the cabinet officially reshuffled, brains at Labour HQ decided it was time for a very special announcement: they had increased the number of women in their Shadow Cabinet by one! A press release entitled ‘NEWS FROM LABOUR: Following the reshuffle women now occupy 17 out of the 31 shadow cabinet positions’ was sent around which included the number of women in both the shadow cabinet

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Ken Livingstone makes Labour’s bad week even worse

Funnily enough, after Ken Livingstone told the Daily Politics that the defence review that he is co-chairing with the new Labour Shadow Defence Secretary Emily Thornberry would consider whether Britain will leave Nato, the party has issued a statement shooting down the former Mayor’s suggestion: ‘The terms of the defence review are still to be agreed but will not look at our membership of Nato.’ Livingstone said the following to the BBC: ‘That’s one of the things we will look at. There will be many people wanting to do that. I don’t think it’s a particularly big issue because in the Cold War it was; it isn’t now. Russia is

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Jonathan Reynolds takes on Diane Abbott: ‘you’re a total sell-out’

After a tough day yesterday for Corbyn’s team following his chaotic reshuffle, there was only one thing left to do to save the day: send Diane Abbott onto the airwaves. The gaffe-prone shadow international development secretary appeared on Newsnight to wax lyrical about the state of Corbyn’s slightly reshuffled Shadow Cabinet. When put to her that things might not be quite so rosy given that three shadow ministers had resigned in protest of Corbyn’s reshuffle, she said it wasn’t really a great loss given that they all use to be special advisers who lacked real life experience: In case you missed: @hackneyabbott on the sacked "special advisers" from the frontbench https://t.co/xkVzH3WrUh — BBC

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Corbyn is untouchable now

There have been few more pathetic displays of political impotence than the tweets sent by shadow cabinet members paying tribute to Michael Dugher after his sacking by Jeremy Corbyn. Dugher, a classic northern Labour fixer, had taken on the role of shadow cabinet shop steward. He spoke out against Momentum, the Corbynite pressure group, warned against a ‘revenge reshuffle’ and criticised negative briefings against the shadow cabinet from the leader’s office. But rather than protesting at his sacking through a walkout, shadow cabinet members confined their solidarity to a 140-character gesture. Their tweets, rather than looking like brave defiance of the boss, actually showed just how cowed they are. Dugher’s

Hugo Rifkind Hugo Rifkind

What a spankingly splendid scandal

Apparently, according to a variety of relatively reliable sources that include the man himself, the Labour MP for Rochdale, Simon Danczuk, is in the habit of accepting money from a paparazzi agency in exchange for advising them how they might best snap pap pictures of the Labour MP for Rochdale, Simon Danczuk. Is this not one of the most amazing facts you have ever learned? Every bit of it — that tabloids want these photographs; that photo-graphers will pay for them; that an MP can earn a tidy sum by secretly facilitating them — simply boggles me. Are they all at it? Maybe that’s why we keep seeing those vile

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Is ‘hard right’ Progress really the key threat to Jeremy Corbyn?

According to John McDonnell, the reason three Labour frontbenchers resigned today is that there is a ‘group within the Labour party who have a right-wing conservative agenda. Within Progress itself, there are some who are quite hard right, and I think they’ve never accepted Jeremy’s leadership’. McDonnell told Channel 4 News that these ‘hard right’ MPs were still welcome in the Labour party because it is a ‘broad church’, but it was clear that he wants to paint Progress, largely a Blairite campaign group, as a menace. Certainly Progress has a different approach to left-wing politics than McDonnell. And it’s not supportive of the current Labour leadership. But the Shadow

James Forsyth James Forsyth

PMQs: Corbyn’s farcical reshuffle has overshadowed everything else

Jeremy Corbyn actually asked six reasonable questions at PMQs today. But his attack on the government’s handling of the floods will be completely overshadowed by his chaotic reshuffle; one shadow Minister actually resigned during PMQs. The Tories were itching to bring up the Labour reshuffle. The first question from a Tory MP asked Cameron to reassure her that condemning terrorist attacks was not a bar to holding high office, a reference to Pat McFadden’s sacking. Then, in reference to a question about the anniversary of Shakespeare’s death from Nadhim Zahawi, Cameron rattled off a series of pre-prepared gags, cracking that the reshuffle was a ‘comedy of errors’. But far more

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Three Labour shadow ministers resign following Corbyn’s reshuffle

Here come the resignations. 10.40am: Jonathan Reynolds, a moderate frontbencher, has stepped down citing Pat McFadden’s sacking as one of the reasons. Reynolds writes in his resignation letter that ‘I cannot in good conscience endorse the world view of the Stop the War Coalition, who I believe to be fundamentally wrong in their assessment and understanding of the threats the UK faces. The security and well-being of my constituents must always be my first consideration and I therefore believe my colleague Pat McFadden was right to condemn those who would to any degree absolve ISIS for their actions following the atrocities in Paris’. Reynolds leaving the frontbench is not a

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Corbyn never really wanted a ‘revenge reshuffle’

Jeremy Corbyn is expected to make changes to his junior ministerial team today, though some might choose to walk anyway, particularly in protest at the sacking of Pat McFadden. Meanwhile sources in Hilary Benn’s camp are insisting that the decision to keep him in place as shadow foreign secretary but not allow him to take a dissenting position from the dispatch box won’t lead to a material change in the way the two men work together. A source says: ‘When you strip away the hysterical and breathless reporting of it, all you have got is two men who do not operate on a 24 hour news cycle and are not

The Spectator

Jeremy Corbyn’s new shadow cabinet in full

Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn MP Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Party Chair and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office Tom Watson MP Shadow First Secretary of State, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Angela Eagle MP  Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell MP  Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Seema Malhotra MP  Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham MP  Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn MP  Opposition Chief Whip Rosie Winterton MP  Shadow Secretary of State for Health Heidi Alexander MP  Shadow Secretary of State for Education Lucy Powell MP  Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Owen Smith MP  Shadow Secretary of State for Defence Emily Thornberry MP  Shadow Lord Chancellor, Shadow Secretary of State

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

My way or the highway, Corbyn tells tweaked Shadow Cabinet after night of the blunt knives

So in the end, Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet reshuffle wasn’t the wide-ranging purge some had anticipated it would be. The Labour leader has sacked two people – Michael Dugher and Pat McFadden – moved Maria Eagle, promoted Emily Thornberry, and told Hilary Benn to toe his line. The Labour leader sacked McFadden as Shadow Foreign Office Minister for the same reasons that he dispatched Dugher: the MP had criticised the leader in public. Or did he? McFadden asked David Cameron the following question after the Paris attacks: ‘Can I ask the Prime Minister to reject the view that sees terrorist acts as always being a response or a reaction to

Steerpike Steerpike

Jeremy Corbyn no longer ‘living with the enemy’

This week Jeremy Corbyn has found himself battling with the media once again as he had to reprimand lobby journalists for loitering too close to his office during his Shadow Cabinet reshuffle deliberations. Happily he no longer has to deal with such proximity issues when he returns home this evening. Mr S revealed back in December that the Labour leader was officially ‘living with the enemy’ after his lodger Gian Volpicelli started doing shifts for Mail Online. While Corbyn has made no secret of his dislike for the Mail group — making fun of both a Mail Online and a Mail on Sunday article in his party conference speech, Volpicelli managed to impress hacks at the website with his

Tuesday

Steerpike

Jess Phillips: I am interested in being Labour leader

In December, Julie Burchill had lunch with Jess Phillips MP, and decided in an article for Spectator Life that the gobby Brummie had the balls to drag the Labour party back from Korbyn’s Keystone Kommunism. It now seems that Phillips agrees. Speaking on Newsnight last night, she admitted – over a pint – that she was indeed interested in the role: ‘Yes, absolutely I would consider doing it, a long time in the future. It’s not something I’m planning on doing any time soon but it’s absolutely something I would do in the future, yes.’ Given what a tedious omnishambles Corbyn’s reshuffle is turning out to be, and given that Phillips has called for a

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Corbyn’s opponents reduced to hashtag mourning as reshuffle continues

By the end of the day, it will be quicker to count the number of Labour MPs – including members of the Shadow Cabinet – who have not expressed their sadness that Michael Dugher has been sacked. Even though the outpouring of anguish on social media is interesting and suggests that Jeremy Corbyn is not powerful enough to be able to demand loyalty even from those who will probably remain on the frontbench, it also shows how powerless those frontbenchers and their backbench colleagues who oppose Corbyn really are. Tom Watson and Andy Burnham, too, look powerless as they were unable to save Dugher through either their threatened power as

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Labour MPs rally around their fallen attack dog

Michael Dugher has today been fired by Jeremy Corbyn from his role as Shadow Culture Secretary after serving less than five months on Corbyn’s frontline. Just been sacked by Jeremy Corbyn. I wished him a happy new year. — Michael Dugher (@MichaelDugher) January 5, 2016 While the move will no doubt come as a blow to Dugher, the responses from his fellow MPs on Twitter suggest that his demotion could actually be the biggest loss to politics in recent history. Dugher’s comrades have been releasing carefully worded tributes in honour of their fallen soldier: If getting rid of the Tories & electing a Labour government to implement Labour values is your thing, @MichaelDugher is your man.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Breaking: Corbyn sacks Michael Dugher

It seems that Jeremy Corbyn’s reshuffle has actually started for real. This is what Michael Dugher, Shadow Culture Secretary, has just tweeted: Dugher losing his job isn’t a huge surprise given his comments on Pienaar’s Politics at the weekend. The Barnsley East MP told the programme that Corbyn would be left with a ‘politburo of seven’ if he only appointed supporters. He has been an outspoken campaigner against the Labour leader’s plans for a ‘revenge reshuffle’, perhaps having decided that it might be better to go down in a final blaze of fighting. It will be interesting to see what the response is from Dugher’s ally Tom Watson, the party’s

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Corbyn to serve ‘revenge reshuffle’ cold: but will it leave Labour even more bitter?

Jeremy Corbyn is expected to announce the results of his reshuffle today, after keeping everyone in suspense with hours of secret talks yesterday in his office. His ‘even reshuffle’ is being served rather cold, and its ingredients are being kept a mystery. The Labour leader is believed to be going for a less fearsome set of changes than those briefed over Christmas, possibly even keeping Hilary Benn in his job. Though the rumour is that Maria Eagle all remain on the frontbench, but leave the Defence brief. This is all speculation, based partly on behind-the-scenes conversations about the dynamics in Corbyn’s own team (some of his aides believe he should

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Won’t somebody in Labour think of the mayoral contest?

Jeremy Corbyn is currently conducting his reshuffle, with a group of journalists huddled at a discreet distance from the Labour leader’s office. So far, not much has happened, other than Corbyn asking the journalists not to stand outside his office, and Barry Gardiner emerging with a smile on his face. But still the briefings around the reshuffle and the anticipation of it have dominated the news agenda. This must be intensely frustrating for Sadiq Khan, who had planned to spend today getting lots of attention for his campaign on train fares. Labour members and staffers were up long before dawn handing out leaflets publicising the four-year fare freeze promised by