Keir’s Corbynite cull
New Labour leader starts his reign by sacking hard-Left figures
Keir Starmer culled a string of hard-Left figures last night as he sought to draw a line under the disastrous Jeremy Corbyn years.
The new Labour leader sacked three of his predecessor’s key lieutenants and replaced them with moderates – including leadership rival Lisa Nandy, who he made Shadow Foreign Secretary.
emily Thornberry, who had the role, will be given a different position.
Sir Keir did not immediately offer a job to Corbynite candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey, although he promised during the leadership campaign to keep her in his top team.
As he began the process of healing his fractured party, he brought moderate MP Rachel Reeves into his team, in a sign that those dismissed during the Corbyn years as ‘centrists’ are now back in the fold.
And he has given senior positions to soft-Left figures such as Anneliese Dodds, who becomes Shadow Chancellor, replacing the hard-Left John McDonnell.
Nick Thomas-Symonds replaces hardline Corbynite Diane Abbott as Shadow Home Secretary. Three
In: Nick Thomas-Symonds members of Mr Corbyn’s front bench – Ian Lavery, Barry Gardiner and Jon Trickett – were sacked.
Sir Keir was overwhelmingly elected Labour leader on Saturday, gaining 56 per cent of the vote after winning over grassroots members and the unions. He said he wanted all wings of the party to serve in his team, adding that it was no longer a question of whether people had previously been Blairite or Corbynite.
Former Labour Cabinet ministers Alan Johnson and David Blunkett urged him to use his victory to ‘purge’ Labour of the hard Left and the Corbyn-supporting Momentum group.
Sir Keir painted himself as a moderate in Labour’s leadership election. But yesterday he committed himself to higher taxes on the well- off to help fund coronavirus spending.
On the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, he said: ‘It is inevitable that we have to ask those that have more to pay more.
‘The truth is at the moment we don’t yet know how big this challenge is going to be until we’re
‘There has to be a reckoning’
through this crisis, but when we are through there’s going to have to be a reckoning.’
Sir Keir has pledged to change the party, but he gave little away on the details – beyond apologising to the Jewish community over Labour’s antiSemitism problem.
Asked about his Shadow Cabinet, he said: ‘It will be balanced across the party. It will be balanced across the country. And of course it’ll be balanced in terms of diversity.
‘I will have in my Shadow Cabinet those that want to serve toward the future aim of winning that next general election. It will be a talented and balanced Shadow Cabinet. We’re not badging people by the past. We’re going forward to the future, focusing on how we win the 2024 general election.’
Jonathan Ashworth will remain health spokesman while chief whip Nick Brown and shadow leader of the Lords Angela Smith retain their roles.
Angela Rayner, elected deputy leader, will also be chairman of the Labour Party.