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2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle

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. This was his third major reshuffle and was described as promoting his loyalists to senior roles.

Background

The last shadow cabinet reshuffle was carried out in November 2021. Since then the Labour Party has performed strongly in opinion polls in the lead up to the 2024 general election. Labour gains in the by-elections in Wakefield and Selby and Ainsty consolidated their electoral performance as did the 2022 local elections. In August 2023, it was speculated in the media that Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner could have her responsibilities changed. It was reported that most "big guns" were considered to be safe. The reshuffle coincided with the appointment of Sue Gray as Chief of Staff to Keir Starmer.

Changes

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. 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". 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 and was also given the new role of Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This consolidated her role in any future Labour government. 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. Gray is believed to have been involved in this appointment as well. Jim McMahon resigned as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, citing ill health, and returned to the backbenches.

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. She also said that Starmer did "not see a space for a mental health portfolio in a Labour cabinet".

Reaction

John Rentoul wrote in The Independent that Starmer delaying the reshuffle was to avoid a revolt from the left wing of the party. 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.

Both Momentum and Compass accused Starmer of promoting a “narrow band of Blairites”. Starmer was described as demoting figures from the soft left of the party and promoting in their place his loyalists as well as Blairites. 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. Owen Jones criticised the amount of Blairites in the new shadow cabinet. 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. 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". 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".