On 4 September 2023, Keir Starmer, Leader of the UK Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, carried out a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet.[1] [2] [3] [4] This was his third major reshuffle and was described as promoting his loyalists to senior roles.[5]
Starmer's deputy Angela Rayner received the shadow levelling up post, replacing Lisa Nandy who was demoted to the shadow minister for international development.[6] The most senior members of the shadow cabinet remained in their positions. Rosena Allin-Khan, who was the shadow minister for mental health before the reshuffle, resigned from the Shadow Cabinet, criticising shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting's advocacy for outsourcing the NHS to the private sector.[7] She also said that Starmer did "not see a space for a mental health portfolio in a Labour cabinet".[8] [9] [10] The reshuffle coincided with the start of the tenure of Sue Gray as Starmer's new chief of staff.[11]
Writers from The Guardian and Politico said that the Blairite wing of the party had prospered in the reshuffle to the detriment of the soft left of the party.[12] [13] One shadow minister, said of the reshuffle, "It's all the Blairites" and called it "an entirely factional takeover".[14] Starmer said that he was putting his "strongest possible players on the pitch" ahead of the upcoming general election. Tom Belger writing for LabourList described the reshuffle as a continuing of "Labour's right-ward march".[15]
The last shadow cabinet reshuffle was carried out in November 2021.[16] Since then the Labour Party has performed strongly in opinion polls in the lead up to the 2024 general election.[17] Labour gains in the by-elections in Wakefield and Selby and Ainsty consolidated their electoral performance as did the 2022 local elections.[18] In August 2023, it was speculated in the media that Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner could have her responsibilities changed.[19] It was reported that most "big guns" were considered to be safe.[20] The reshuffle coincided with the appointment of Sue Gray as Chief of Staff to Keir Starmer.[21]
Sue Gray took a leading role in the reshuffle. It included the promotion of Blairites Hilary Benn and Pat McFadden who served under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.[22] Lisa Nandy lost her role as Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to become a shadow foreign office minister, the Shadow Overseas Development Minister, which was described by Sam Coates as "unambiguously a demotion".[23] Labour have stated their intention to reinstate the Department for International Development if they win office. Fellow Greater Manchester MP Angela Rayner became the new shadow levelling up secretary[24] and was also given the new role of Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.[25] This consolidated her role in any future Labour government.[26] Gray was involved in negotiations with Rayner over her position.
Hilary Benn returned to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, for the first time since he resigned as Shadow Foreign Secretary in 2016 under Jeremy Corbyn.[27] Gray is believed to have been involved in this appointment as well.[28] Jim McMahon resigned as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, citing ill health, and returned to the backbenches.[29]
Rosena Allin-Khan resigned from the Shadow Cabinet, criticising Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting's advocacy for outsourcing the National Health Service (NHS) to the private sector.[30] She also said that Starmer did "not see a space for a mental health portfolio in a Labour cabinet".[31] [32] [33]
John Rentoul wrote in The Independent that Starmer delaying the reshuffle was to avoid a revolt from the left wing of the party.[34] The promotion of Andrew Gwynne, a former ally of Jeremy Corbyn from the left of the party, was seen as Starmer extending an olive branch to the party's left wing.[35]
Both Momentum and Compass accused Starmer of promoting a "narrow band of Blairites".[36] Starmer was described as demoting figures from the soft left of the party and promoting in their place his loyalists as well as Blairites.[37] [38] [39] While there were leading figures on the soft left who remained in the shadow cabinet, such as Ed Miliband, Louise Haigh and Angela Rayner, the faction was thought to have lost most of its influence.[40] Owen Jones criticised the amount of Blairites in the new shadow cabinet.[41] Andrew Fisher who was Director of Policy of the Labour Party, under leader Jeremy Corbyn described Starmer as a "weak leader" surrounded by yes men.[42] A shadow minister described the reshuffle as a factional takeover and described it as "all the Blairites" and a "shoring up of the right of the party".[43] Likewise, editor at LabourList, Tom Belger, wrote of the reshuffle, "More Blairites than Blair" and quoted an MP that stated "even Blair didn't have this many Blairites in his cabinet". Belger also stated that the reshuffle signified that "Labour's right-ward march continues".[44]
These roles were left vacant following the cabinet-level changes:
On 5 and 6 September, a number of junior changes were announced:[46] [47]
| Minister | Position(s) before reshuffle | Position(s) after reshuffle | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Morgan MP | Shadow Schools Minister | Shadow Minister for Rail | ||
| Catherine McKinnell MP | Chair of the Petitions Committee | Shadow Schools Minister | ||
| Abena Oppong-Asare MP | Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury | Shadow Minister Women's Health and Mental Health | ||
| Alex Norris MP | Shadow Minister for Levelling Up | Shadow Minister for Policing | ||
| Sarah Jones MP | Shadow Minister for Policing and the Fire Service | Shadow Minister for Industry and Decarbonisation (new role) | ||
| Dan Jarvis MP | Backbench MP | Shadow Minister for Security | ||
| Holly Lynch MP | Shadow Minister for Security | Opposition Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons (Legislation) | ||
| Seema Malhotra MP | Shadow Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets | Shadow Minister for Skills | ||
| Chris Bryant MP | Chair of the Commons Committee on Standards | Shadow Minister for Creative Industries and Digital | ||
| Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP | Shadow Minister for Rail | Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury | ||
| Andrew Gwynne MP | Shadow Minister for Public Health | Shadow Minister for Social Care | ||
| Jessica Morden MP | Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons | Shadow Minister for Wales and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition | ||
| Rushanara Ali MP | Backbench MP | Shadow Minister for Investment and Small Business | ||
| Karin Smyth MP | Backbench MP | Shadow Minister for Health | ||
| Fleur Anderson MP | Shadow Paymaster General | Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland | ||
| Justin Madders MP | Shadow Minister for Employment Rights and Protection | Shadow Minister for Business, Employment Rights and Levelling Up | ||
| Gareth Thomas MP | Shadow Minister for International Trade | Shadow Minister for Trade | ||
| Afzal Khan MP | Shadow Minister for Legal Aid | Shadow Minister for Exports | ||
| Alan Whitehead MP | Shadow Minister for Green New Deal and Energy | Shadow Minister for Energy Security | ||
| Jeff Smith MP | Shadow Minister for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Music | Shadow Minister for Clean Power and Consumers | ||
| Stephanie Peacock MP | Shadow Minister for Media, Data and Digital Infrastructure | Shadow Minister for Sport, Gambling and Media | ||
| Lilian Greenwood MP | Opposition Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons | Shadow Minister for Arts, Heritage and Civil Society | ||
| Barbara Keeley MP | Shadow Minister for Arts and Civil Society | Shadow Minister for Music and Tourism | ||
| Toby Perkins MP | Shadow Minister for Apprenticeships and Lifelong Learning | Shadow Minister for Rural Affairs | ||
| Emma Hardy MP | Backbench MP | Shadow Minister for Environmental Quality and Resilience | ||
| Anna McMorrin MP | Shadow Minister for Victims and Youth Justice | Shadow Minister for Latin America and the Caribbean | ||
| Feryal Clark MP | Shadow Minister for Primary Care and Patient Safety | Shadow Minister for Health | ||
| Nick Smith MP | Backbench MP | Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons | ||
| Florence Eshalomi MP | Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office | Shadow Minister for Democracy | ||
| Paula Barker MP | Shadow Minister for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping | Shadow Minister for Devolution and the English Regions | ||
| Mike Amesbury MP | Backbench MP | Shadow Minister for Building Safety and Homelessness | ||
| Imran Hussain MP | Shadow Minister for Work | Shadow Minister for the New Deal for Working People | ||
| Maria Eagle MP | Backbench MP | Shadow Minister for Procurement | ||
| Janet Daby MP | Backbench MP | Shadow Minister for Youth Justice | ||
| Kevin Brennan MP | Backbench MP | Shadow Minister for Victims and Sentencing | ||
| Ruth Cadbury MP | Shadow Minister for International Trade | Shadow Minister for Prisons, Parole and Probation | ||
| Alex Davies-Jones MP | Shadow Minister for Tech, Gambling and Digital Economy | Shadow Minister for Tech and Digital Economy | ||
| Matt Rodda MP | Shadow Minister for Pensions | Shadow Minister for AI and Intellectual Property | ||
| Gerald Jones MP | Shadow Minister for Wales | Shadow Minister for Scotland | ||
| Bill Esterson MP | Shadow Minister for Business and Industry | Shadow Minister for Roads | ||
| Simon Lightwood MP | Shadow Minister for Buses and Taxis | Shadow Minister for Local Transport | ||
| Chris Evans MP | Shadow Minister for Defence Procurement | Shadow Minister for Social Security | ||
| Gill Furniss MP | Shadow Minister for Roads | Shadow Minister for Pensions | ||
| Mark Tami MP | Opposition Pairing Whip | Opposition Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons (Accommodation and Pairing) | ||
| Alex Sobel MP | Shadow Minister for Nature Recovery and the Domestic Environment | Backbench MP | ||
| Nia Griffith MP | Shadow Minister for Exports | Shadow Minister in the Cabinet Office | ||
| Fabian Hamilton MP | Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament, Latin America and the Caribbean | Backbench MP | ||
| Liz Twist MP | Shadow Minister for Scotland | Backbench MP | ||