Tom Watson's elected shadow cabinet: How would it work?
Labour Party's deputy leader wants to 'put the band back together' after 'bruising summer'
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson is attempting to push through a deal that would see shadow cabinet members elected, but would still allow Jeremy Corbyn to hire and fire frontbenchers if, as expected, he wins this Saturday's leadership election.
Watson has put forward two proposals: one that would see MPs choose the shadow cabinet and the other that would split the decision evenly between MPs, Corbyn and the party members.
He will raise the proposals at a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) today in a bid to get it on the agenda at next week's party conference, reports Sky News.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Speaking this morning, Watson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he wanted Labour to unite and "put the band back together" following the leadership election.
"We’ve had a very bruising summer," he said. "We are going to get a new leader elected on Saturday, we all think there is the likelihood of a very early general election and so we have got to put the band back together.
"For me, the heart of our party is the parliamentary party - they are the people that come on the Today programme to talk about our policies to the nation - and we have got to bring people back in.
"I think to have an elected shadow cabinet, not an appointed shadow cabinet, is one way we do that."
Allowing MPs to elect shadow cabinet members would offer a "dignified way back for a number of individuals, with Lucy Powell, Dan Jarvis and Gloria De Piero among those who could be persuaded to stand", says The Guardian.
Watson is likely to suggest giving Corbyn the power to remove frontbenchers as a means of preventing anyone from using the elections to try to destabilise the leadership, adds the paper.
The deputy leader also said he would be asking the NEC to look at the way the party elects its leader, but the changes would not come into place until the new leader had resigned.
"In the last set of reforms we had was some very rushed reforms and we created a new category of member, a registered supporter, which is pretty unpopular in all sections. We want to remove that and we also want to enfranchise more ordinary trade unionists in the new process," he said.
ITV's political editor Robert Peston says: "Watson's leadership-election reform proposals are not yet another attempt to unseat Corbyn. But a longer term plan to try and unify the warring parts of the party."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'The double standards don't trouble the critics'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - November 22, 2024
Cartoons Friday's cartoons - frozen assets, blazing fires, and more
By The Week US Published
-
How much of a blow is ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu?
Today's Big Question Action by Hague court damages Israel's narrative that Gaza conflict is a war between 'good and evil'
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
John Prescott: was he Labour's last link to the working class?
Today's Big Quesiton 'A total one-off': tributes have poured in for the former deputy PM and trade unionist
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Last hopes for justice for UK's nuclear test veterans
Under the Radar Thousands of ex-service personnel say their lives have been blighted by aggressive cancers and genetic mutations
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Will Donald Trump wreck the Brexit deal?
Today's Big Question President-elect's victory could help UK's reset with the EU, but a free-trade agreement with the US to dodge his threatened tariffs could hinder it
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
What is the next Tory leader up against?
Today's Big Question Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will have to unify warring factions and win back disillusioned voters – without alienating the centre ground
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Labour risking the 'special relationship'?
Today's Big Question Keir Starmer forced to deny Donald Trump's formal complaint that Labour staffers are 'interfering' to help Harris campaign
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
What is Lammy hoping to achieve in China?
Today's Big Question Foreign secretary heads to Beijing as Labour seeks cooperation on global challenges and courts opportunities for trade and investment
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Men in Gray suits: why the plots against Starmer's top adviser?
Today's Big Question Increasingly damaging leaks about Sue Gray reflect 'bitter acrimony' over her role and power struggle in new government
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Britain about to 'boil over'?
Today's Big Question A message shared across far-right groups listed more than 30 potential targets for violence in the UK today
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published