What Keir Starmer’s latest reshuffle means for Labour
Overhaul moves party more to the centre as leader pitches to ‘make Brexit work’
Yvette Cooper has been appointed shadow home secretary in a headline-grabbing reshuffle of Labour’s top team by Keir Starmer.
The Guardian said the “ruthless shakeup” left “almost no senior role untouched” and was “widely viewed at Westminster as accelerating Labour’s shift to the centre”.
Who moved where?
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.
Promotions
- Yvette Cooper became shadow home secretary
- David Lammy was promoted to shadow foreign secretary
- Wes Streeting became the new shadow health secretary
- Louise Haigh left her post as shadow Northern Ireland secretary, replacing Jim McMahon as shadow transport secretary
- Lucy Powell became shadow digital, culture, media and sport secretary
- Jim McMahon was named shadow environment secretary, replacing Luke Pollard
Sideways moves
- Emily Thornberry became shadow attorney-general
- Lisa Nandy moved from shadow foreign secretary to shadow levelling-up secretary
- Jonathan Reynolds, formerly the shadow work and pensions secretary, became shadow business secretary
- Jonathan Ashworth moved from health to become shadow work and pensions secretary
Demotions
- Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, is now the shadow international trade secretary
- Ed Miliband stayed as shadow climate change secretary but lost his shadow business secretary role to Jonathan Reynolds
‘Purge of non-moderates’
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 Times said the reshuffle was a “tacit acknowledgement” that Starmer has “failed to cut through with voters and land political blows against the government”.
It added that the promotion of Cooper and Lammy, two “New Labour-era” figures, raises concern over “how reliant Labour’s operation appears to be on Miliband-era talent”. Jeremy Corbyn’s former shadow chancellor John McDonnell certainly felt the reshuffle was misjudged, saying the moves were more like “Christmas Past” than “Christmas Future”.
Meanwhile, Politico felt that the overhaul may be about Starmer moving from his Remainer past to a future of “making Brexit work”. Speaking about the changes to his team, Starmer said a “Make Brexit Work” promise was “a huge part” of his “agenda,” which now would be led by Thomas-Symonds.
However, many felt it was more about Starmer’s ongoing purge of the left. Politico’s London Playbook newsletter said the shake-up left Starmer with a shadow cabinet “that has more battle-hardened veterans in key positions, with some lower profile and more left-wing figures making way – and a leader feeling emboldened by his show of force”.
Starmer’s allies “believe that revamping his frontbench before Christmas will help consolidate his position and continue his shift away from the policy agenda and legacy of his predecessor”, said The Telegraph.
However, a former frontbencher complained to the paper that it was “clearly yet another shift and purge of anyone who doesn’t fit the moderate description”, adding: “This is not going to help increase our appeal among the electorate.”
The overhaul could take Labour a step closer to its first female leader. Sky News pointed out that Cooper’s “big comeback” could pave the way for Starmer’s eventual replacement as leader being a woman. Its headline said her promotion is “sure to shorten her odds of winning party’s top job in future”. She joins other leadership frontrunners including Angela Rayner, Rachel Reeves and Lisa Nandy.
Rayner ‘blindsided’
The timing of the reshuffle has raised eyebrows, wrote Laura Kuenssberg. The BBC’s political editor said Starmer’s deputy, Rayner, didn’t know about the reshuffle “until after she had done a succession of media interviews on Monday morning, where she was asked to comment on a reshuffle she didn’t know about”.
Rayner was “blindsided” by the overhaul, said The Guardian. The Labour leader informed his deputy that he was reshaping his team in a “brief chat” as she moved between media interviews and a major speech on standards in public life.
An ally of Rayner said Starmer would have been fully aware the move would “blow up” her bid to lay out plans for reforming the standards system and said it was “not fair”, the paper reported.
-
'Epic meltdown'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
The World of Tim Burton: a 'creepy, witty and visually ravishing' exhibition
The Week Recommends Sprawling show at the Design Museum features over 600 exhibits from across the directors' five-decade career from early sketches to costumes and props
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: October 31, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
IPPs: the prisoners serving never-ending jail sentences
The Explainer Sentences of 'imprisonment for public protection' (IPPs) have been widely condemned, but many are still in force
By 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
-
UK cedes Chagos Islands to Mauritius, minus US base
Speed Read Mauritius has long argued it was forced to give up the islands in 1965 in return for independence from Britain
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The rules on what gifts MPs can accept from donors
The Explainer It's the 'system we have' says Labour cabinet minister as campaigners calls for overhaul of the ministerial code
By The Week Staff 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
-
Why is Labour looking to Italy on migration?
Today's Big Question Keir Starmer wants to learn lessons from Giorgia Meloni, but not everyone is impressed with the Albania agreement
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Keir Starmer defends winter fuel cut
Speed Read PM says government must 'fix the foundations' despite criticism
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published