With the conclusion of Labour conference (here are five lessons from it), Jeremy Corbyn’s attention will turn to assembling a new shadow cabinet. The leadership is expected to agree to allow MPs to elect a proportion of the frontbench. But Corbyn intends to begin appointments next week in advance of a deal.
Shami Chakrabarti, who recently became a Labour peer and chaired the party’s anti-Semitism inquiry, is set to become shadow attorney general, I can reveal. The barrister and former Liberty director “wants to do more” and the “gig is a no brainer,” a source said. Her slated brief has been unfilled since Karl Turner’s resignation in June.
Others expected to join the shadow cabinet include Keir Starmer (who could become shadow home secretary following Andy Burnham’s departure), former shadow housing minister John Healey and former shadow Wales secretary Nia Griffith. Stephen Pound is said to have turned down the post of shadow leader of the House, currently filled by 81-year-old Paul Flynn, who doubles up as shadow Wales secretary. In his conference speech, he praised Corbyn’s “job creation scheme for geriatrics”.
The Labour reshuffle is expected to begin next Wednesday, the day the Conservative conference ends.
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