Starmer Shadow Cabinet | |
|---|---|
 Shadow cabinet of theUnited Kingdom | |
| 2020–2024 | |
 Starmer with members of his shadow cabinet at a session ofPrime Minister's Questions in 2022 | |
| Date formed | 4 April 2020 |
| Date dissolved | 5 July 2024 |
| People and organisations | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II Charles III |
| Leader of the Opposition | Keir Starmer |
| Shadow Deputy PM | Angela Rayner |
| Member party | |
| Status in legislature | Official Opposition |
| History | |
| Legislature terms | 2019 UK Parliament |
| Incoming formation | 2020 leadership election |
| Outgoing formation | 2024 general election |
| Predecessor | Corbyn shadow cabinet |
| Successor | Sunak shadow cabinet |
Keir Starmer assumed the position ofLeader of the Opposition afterbeing elected asleader of the Labour Party on 4 April 2020; the election was triggered byJeremy Corbyn's resignation following the Labour Party's electoral defeat at the2019 general election whenBoris Johnson formed amajority Conservative government. Starmer appointed hisShadow cabinet on 5 and 6 April. He reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet five times: in June 2020,May 2021, June 2021,November 2021 and2023.
His Shadow Cabinet appointments included MPs associated with the various wings of the party.Angela Rayner was appointeddeputy labour leader andshadow deputy prime minister, whileRachel Reeves andYvette Cooper were appointed asshadow chancellor andShadow Home Secretary, respectively. Former Labour leaderEd Miliband was appointedshadow energy and climate secretary. Other notable appointments includedDavid Lammy asShadow Foreign Secretary andWes Streeting asshadow health secretary. A reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet was undertaken in September 2023, which was dominated byBlairites and demoted MPs on thesoft left.[1][2][3][4]
Following the achievement by theLabour Party of a majority in the2024 general election, the shadow cabinet was disbanded after Starmer becamePrime Minister of the United Kingdom on 5 July 2024, succeedingRishi Sunak of theConservative Party.
| Sits in the House of Commons | |
| Sits in the House of Lords |
| Sits in the House of Commons | |
| Sits in the House of Lords |
| Sits in the House of Commons | |
| Sits in the House of Lords |
In April 2020, Starmer's shadow cabinet was appointed over the course of the week following the leadership election, which included former leaderEd Miliband, as well as both of the candidates he defeated in the contest. He also appointedAnneliese Dodds asShadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, making her the first woman to serve in that position in either a ministerial or shadow ministerial capacity.[9]
On 25 June 2020, Starmer dismissed his former leadership rivalRebecca Long-Bailey from her post asShadow Secretary of State for Education. Long-Bailey had refused to delete atweet calling the actressMaxine Peake an "absolute diamond" and linking to an interview inThe Independent in which Peake said that the practice of kneeling on someone's neck by US police, as used in themurder of George Floyd inMinneapolis, was "learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services". The original article stated that "the Israeli police has denied this."[10] Starmer said that because the article "containedanti-Semitic conspiracy theories" it should not have been shared by Long-Bailey.[11][12] The decision to dismiss Long-Bailey was criticised by theSocialist Campaign Group, whose members met with Starmer about the decision.[13] The decision was welcomed by some Jewish groups including theBoard of Deputies and theJewish Labour Movement. Starmer said that "restoring trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority. Antisemitism takes many different forms and it is important that we all are vigilant against it."[14][15] On 27 June, he replaced her withKate Green.[16]
On 23 September 2020, three frontbenchers (Olivia Blake,Nadia Whittome, andBeth Winter) rebelled against Labour's position of abstention on the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill and voted against the bill; all three lost their frontbench roles over the issue. This move was seen as an indication of the firm discipline Starmer intended to exert over his party.[17]
In the third reading of theCovert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill on 15 October 2020, the Labour Party stance was to abstain yet 34 Labour MPs rebelled, including shadow ministersDan Carden andMargaret Greenwood, and fiveparliamentary private secretaries who all resigned from their frontbench roles. These 34 were penalised the next day by being put on probation for going against the one-line whip to abstain.[18]
In April 2023, after writing an article inThe Observer, formerShadow Home SecretaryDiane Abbott was suspended as a Labour MP pending an investigation.[19][20] In the article, Abbott claimed that although "many types of white people with points of difference" such as Jewish, Irish or Traveller people can experience prejudice, they are not subject to racism "all their lives".[20][19] Abbott later apologised for the article, saying that she had erroneously sent an early draft of her article.[19] A Labour Party statement said that the comments were "deeply offensive and wrong".[20] Starmer said that she was suspended due to anti-Semitism.[19]
Emily Thornberry expressed her disappointment at not being appointed to a senior ministerial position by Sir Keir Starmer, despite her extensive tenure as shadow attorney general. She emphasised her contributions to Labour's policies and committed to supporting Starmer's government despite her personal setback.[21]
In the aftermath of relatively poor results in the2021 local elections, Starmer carried out aMay 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle. Starmer dismissedAngela Rayner asChair of the Labour Party and National Campaign Coordinator following the elections.[22][23] The move was criticised byJohn McDonnell, formerShadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, andAndy Burnham,Mayor of Greater Manchester.[24][25] The major outcome of the reshuffle was the demotion of the Shadow Chancellor,Anneliese Dodds.[26]Rachel Reeves was appointed as the new Shadow Chancellor andAngela Rayner succeeded Reeves asShadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.Nick Brown was dismissed asChief Whip and replaced by his deputy,Alan Campbell.Valerie Vaz departed asShadow Leader of the House of Commons and was replaced byThangam Debbonaire, who in turn was succeeded asShadow Secretary of State for Housing byLucy Powell. On 11 May 2021, Starmer'sParliamentary Private Secretary (PPS)Carolyn Harris resigned, whichThe Times reported was after allegedly spreading false rumours about the private life ofAngela Rayner prior to her dismissal.[27][28]Sharon Hodgson was appointed as Starmer's new PPS.[29]
TheNovember 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle, which was considered a surprise,[30] included the promotion ofYvette Cooper andDavid Lammy toShadow Home Secretary andShadow Foreign Secretary, respectively, while Miliband was moved fromShadow Secretary of State for Business and Industrial Strategy toShadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero. The appointment of Cooper in particular was described by some commentators as a sign of Labour further splitting from the Corbyn leadership and moving to the right.[31] The BBC'sLaura Kuenssberg andRobert Peston ofITV News said that the reshuffle aimed to "combine experience and youth" and end "the fatuous project of trying to ... placate Labour's warring factions", and instead chose "shadow ministers for their perceived ability".[32][33] In theNew Statesman, journalistStephen Bush suggested that Starmer had "removed underperforming shadow cabinet ministers and rewarded his biggest hitters – but the resulting shadow cabinet looks to be less than the sum of its parts."[34]
In September 2023, Starmerreshuffled his shadow cabinet for the third time since taking over as leader.[35][36] Writers fromThe Guardian andPolitico said that theBlairite wing of the party had prospered in the reshuffle to the detriment of the soft left of the party.[37][38] One shadow minister, said of the reshuffle, "It's all the Blairites" and called it "an entirely factional takeover".[39] Starmer said that he was putting his "strongest possible players on the pitch" ahead of the upcoming general election.[40] Tom Belger writing forLabourList described the reshuffle as a continuing of "Labour's right-ward march".[41]
Starmer's deputyAngela Rayner received the shadow levelling up post, replacingLisa Nandy who was demoted to the shadow minister for international development.[40] The most senior members of the shadow cabinet remained in their positions.[40]Rosena Allin-Khan, who was the shadow minister for mental health before the reshuffle, resigned from the Shadow Cabinet, criticising shadow Health SecretaryWes Streeting's advocacy for outsourcing the NHS to the private sector.[42] She also said that Starmer did "not see a space for a mental health portfolio in a Labour cabinet".[43][44][45] The reshuffle coincided with the start of the tenure ofSue Gray as Starmer's new chief of staff.[46]
| Official Opposition |
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| Liberal Democrats | |
| Scottish National Party | |
1964 to Present | |
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