Under-fire Starmer in desperate reshuffle
SIR Keir Starmer was reshuffling Labour’s frontbench last night in a desperate attempt to shore up his authority after the party’s election humiliation.
Rachel Reeves is tipped to become the Shadow Chancellor after the Labour leader demoted Anneliese Dodds to Party Chairwoman.
Nick Brown was replaced as Chief Whip by his deputy Alan Campbell.
It followed the surprise decision to strip Deputy Leader Angela Rayner of her role as national campaigns coordinator and replace her with Shabana Mahmood.
Ms Rayner was lined up to take on Michael Gove as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and will be Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work.
Health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth and Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy keep their jobs.
Challenge
Sir Keir appointed Deborah Mattinson, an ex-pollster for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, as his new strategy director.
She will to try to begin the party’s recovery in the North following the humiliating defeat to the Tories in the Hartlepool by-election and the loss of more than 260 council seats.
Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell claimed that Sir Keir’s treatment of Ms Rayner was a “huge mistake”.
He told BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “The leader said he takes responsibility for the result in Hartlepool and then scapegoats Angela Rayner.
“Many of us feel that is unfair. Particularly as Keir’s office controls everything.”
Former frontbencher Jon Trickett said: “I don’t think we should rule out a leadership challenge.”