When Jeremy Corbyn arrived to deliver his foreign policy speech at Chatham House earlier today, there was a notable absentee. The Labour leader was accompanied by shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, shadow international development secretary Kate Osamor and shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti. But shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith was nowhere to be seen – despite Corbyn roaming across her brief.
After reports that Griffith had not been invited, Corbyn’s team insisted this was not the case and that she had been involved in the drafting of the speech. But I now understand that Griffith was certainly not invited and did not contribute to the speech. The shadow defence secretary and Llanelli MP saw Corbyn’s address for the first time at 11pm last night, five hours after it was sent to journalists and an hour before the media embargo ended.
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