The Labour Shadow Cabinet 2020
The new Leader of the Labour
Party and Official Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons has
appointed his first Shadow Cabinet in
the exceptional circumstances of the Coronavirus
pandemic, Parliament in a prolonged Easter Recess, the majority of British
citizens living in fear, and in a very different daily life from that
experienced three to four weeks ago. For up to the next two years, but reviewed
every six months, we are governed by the Coronavirus Act 2020, which builds
upon the Civil Contingencies Act and regulations of 2004, which in turn was
based on the Emergency Powers Acts of 1964 and 1920. The Leader of the
Opposition and the Labour Party is joining in the national effort to minimise
the number of deaths, and work with the government to ensure that as soon as
the evidence becomes available, everyone can return to work and enjoy their leisure
in a radically changed situation with many across the political party spectrum saying
that fundamental changes in how the British nations function will be necessary
and that we will need to value differently what people do, particularly the refuse
collectors, the cleaners, the transport workers, the social carers, medical
and nursing staff, all those responsible
for the maintenance of law and good order together with those who provide
services to the public at national, regional and local level.
We
are unlikely to know if the new Leader of the Labour Party would have
selected the same Shadow Cabinet if the pandemic
had not happened. It is noteworthy that the majority have not held Government or
Shadow Cabinet positions before, but they have a wealth of life and political
experience with an average of 53 and are
geographically representative, with a diverse range in gender, race, religion,
ability and disability which makes up the British State. By any standards of judgement,
he has appointed some remarkable individuals with several having led
extraordinary lives. The following information is based on Wikipedia biographies,
the records of General Elections and wide range of recognised media sources.
Sir
Keir Starmer (57) was elected the new Leader of the Labour Party on the first
ballot with 275980 votes out of 4900731 of the 784151 eligible voters, twice as
many as the second candidates and four times as many as the third. His parents were a nurse and a tool maker with Still
disease; a Young Socialist having passed the 11 plus to grammar school, he
obtained a first class law degree at Leeds University and then in civil law at
Oxford, becoming a barrister, in 1987 working on human rights issues, and an
adviser human rights issues in Northern Ireland and to the Police. In 2008 he
became the Director of Public Prosecutions. He became a Member of Parliament in
the 2015 General Election replacing Frank Dobson at Holborn and St Pancras with
a 17048 majority. (27673 2019). Appointed Shadow Brexit Secretary he impressed
me with his incisive and clinical exposure of the Government’s position and
showed great skill in achieving a credible compromise in what proved a failed
attempt to unite the Party on the issue. He is married to a solicitor with two
children who are being raised in the Jewish faith of their mother which evidently
has influenced his priority to healing the division with the Jewish community caused
by allegations of antisemitism without changing the Party’s position of
recognising Palestine as an independent state.
Angela
Rayner (40) is the new elected deputy Leader of the Labour Party
and the new Chairman of the Party, and like Keir was first elected to
Parliament in 2015. She has been Shadow Secretary of State for Education for
the past four years. Angela has been open that she left secondary school
pregnant aged 16 years without any examinations passes. She is the Member of
Parliament for Ashton Under Lyne with an original majority of 10476 (4263 in
2019). Angela qualified as a social care
worker at Stockport College and also learned sign language working for Stockport
Social Services Department as a care worker, elected as a Unison Trade
Union representative and became the union’s senior official in the North West.
Angela is married with three children, and a grandmother who self-isolated in
March with Coronavirus symptoms on medical advice.
Rachel
Reeves(41) has been appointed to take control of shadow Cabinet Office, overseeing the work of
the Shadow Ministries and chairing the Shadow Policy committees. Born and
educated in London she became the under 14 British Chess champion and passed A
Levels in Politics, Mathematics, Further mathematics and Economics, before
graduating at Oxford(Philosophy Politics and Economics) and a Masters’ degree
at the London School of Economics. She worked at the Bank of England and the
British Embassy in Washington. She has been the Member of Parliament for Leeds
West since 2010 Majority 7000 and 10500 in 2019. She was Shadow Chief Secretary
Treasury in 2011 when her views have aroused
considerable controversy within the Left of the Party. She has written a
biography of Alice Bacon, married a civil servant who became private secretary
to Gordon Brown. She has a younger sister also an MP and married to the MP John
Cryer. It is not yet known if she will deputise for the Leader at Prime
Minister’s Questions.
Alongside
Angela and Rachel, in terms of their importance in the likely future
circumstances arising from the Coronavirus pandemic, will be the new Shadow Chancellor
of the Exchequer Annelise Dodds (42), the first woman in British history
to be appointed to the position, replacing John McDonald, and who is said to
have recommended her. She was appointed Chief Shadow Financial Secretary
following her election to the House of Commons in June 2017 at Oxford East as the Labour and Co Op candidate with a
majority of 17832. Anneliese was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and graduated with
a first class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford, a Masters’
degree in Social Policy at Edinburgh and a doctorate at the London School of
Economics, becoming a lecturer in Public Policy in 2007 at Kings College London
and senior lecturer of Public Policy at Aston University in 2010. In 2014 she
was elected to the European Parliament, serving on the Economic and Monetary
Affairs Committee. She is regarded as the brains of Labour’s Economic policy
and 2019 costed election manifesto.
Keir
Starmer has appointed to the Cabinet, as he committed to so when addressing the
Leadership husting held at Durham which I attended, his two female contenders
in the Leadership ballot.
Rebecca
Long Baily (40) who came second with 135218 votes (27.6%)
has moved from shadow Secretary at the department of Business to Education, the
position previously held by Angela
Rayner. Becky as she is known to party colleagues is another of the exceptional
women who first entered the House of Commons in 2015 General Election,
representing Salford and Eccles( majority 12500 increased in 2019 to over 16000).
Born in Old Trafford, her father was a Salford docker. She attended Chester Catholic Girls High School, working
in various jobs before studying Politics and Sociology at Manchester University
and then completed various part time courses to become a solicitor in 2007 and
joined the Labour Party in 2010. She was one of the Members of the
Parliamentary Labour Party to nominate Jeremy Corbyn in 2015 and was
appointed a Shadow Minister at the
Treasury and then shadow Chief Secretary before moving as Shadow Secretary of
State. As a Catholic she supports women’s right to abortion and also expressed
concern at the way the party first responded to
claims of antisemitism.
Lisa
Nandy, (41) was third in the leadership election with 79597
votes (16.2%) has been appointed Foreign Secretary and has an unusual and
politically interesting background. On her mother’s side her grandfather with
the well-known Liberal politician Frank Byers. Her father is the Marxist Dipak
Nandy, who has held National positions
in Britain on Race Relations and Equal Opportunities, also advising the Home Office. Little known
is that Lisa chaired Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle east and was
also endorsed in the leadership bid by the Jewish Labour movement. She studied politics at Newcastle and then a
masters’ in public policy at London University. She has advised the Children’s
Society, and the Children’s Commissioner, England and for one year 2012 was
Shadow Children’s Minister. She has impressed with her appearances on political
programmes demonstrating wisdom and a willingness to listen to other viewpoints
but sticking to socialist values without appearing confrontational.
Lisa
replaces one of the original leadership candidates, Emily Thornbury (59)
who has now become the Shadow Secretary
for International Trade which led to Barry Gardiner leaving the Shadow Cabinet.
It is not general known that Emily had a challenging childhood with free school
meals and food parcels. Failing the 11 plus she attended a secondary modern school
and worked as a cleaner and a bar maid while resitting and O levels and then
taking A levels. She studied law at the university of Kent, becoming a became a
human rights barrister between 1985 and 2005 working for Michael Mansfield, the
influential socialist lawyer among whose client have been Mohamed Al Fayed and
Hillsborough victims . Elected to Parliament in 2005 with only a majority of
484 she returned to the Commons in 2019 with a majority of over 17000.
Having
appointed four women to key positions in the Shadow Cabinet an unexpected
development has been the appointment of the nationally unknown Nick Thomas
Symonds (39) as Shadow Home Secretary after Diane Abbott did not wish to be
considered. Yvette Cooper who had
previously held the position and presently chairs the Home Affairs Select
Committee and the Committee formed of select committee chairpersons had been
expected by some to have returned to the post.
Nick
represents his birthplace of Torfaen, Wales, with a reduced majority of 4000 in
2019 from 10000 2017 and 8000 in 2015.
He had a glittering academic career appointed a university tutor aged 21
after graduating at Oxford with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics
and publishing political biographies of Atlee and Bevan. He became a Barrister holding
shadow minister jobs in Pensions and Employment before becoming the Security Minister
at the Home Office, in addition being Shadow Solicitor General for Wales.
What
could prove a major appointment in gaining the approval from all political wings
of the Parliamentary and Constituency
Parties, together with the Trade unions, is the return to the Cabinet of former
Party Leader Ed Miliband (50 )2010-2015. His father, Ralph Miliband was
a Marxist Polish Jewish immigrant who came to Britain to escape the Nazi
Holocaust and the Miliband Family moved
from London to Leeds in 1972 when Ralph became Professor of Politics at the
University and then two occasions to the
USA when his father as a visiting lecturer. Before going to university, Ed
worked as an Intern with family friend Tony Benn graduating from Oxford with a
degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics dropping philosophy and converting
to an Arts degree before taking an economics Masters’ degree at the London
School of Economics. He became a political adviser to Harriet Harman in 1994
and to Gordon Brown in 1997. In 2003 he returned to the United States to himself lecture at Harvard and reported to Gordon
Brown on the presidential campaign of
John Kerry. He was elected to the
Commons in 2005 for Doncaster North where in 1970 as Assistant County
Children’s officer, for the West Riding, I worked with the regional Home Office
Inspectorate on an issue of child sexual
exploitation and political corruption.
Ed
was first elected with a majority of 12000, in 2019 2370, making the
traditionally safe Labour seat marginal. In 2006 he joined the Cabinet Office
Ministerial team with responsibility for voluntary and charity organisations.
In 2007 when Gordon Brown became Labour Leader he promoted Ed to the Cabinet in
the role now taken by Rachel Reeves and
was tasked with leading the drafting for the 2010 General Election Manifesto.
In 2008 he headed the new shadow department for Energy and Climate Change, a
subject likely to continue to influence his role as the new Business Secretary
and for Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Much
has been written about the feud said to have initiated by his brother David against
Ed because of successfully standing against him in 2010 Leadership and where
they had taken different positions about the decision to bomb and invade Iraq. Throughout
his tenure as Leader, it was evident Ed wanted to forge a compromise between the
political wings of the Party and establish a new centre left approach to
politics. While the campaign against him by the Tory Party supporting media was
not as strong as that against Jeremy Corbyn, the outcome was similar, and the public
endorsed continuation of the Conservative and Liberal Democratic austerity programme
at the 2015 general election. This paved the way for Jeremy Corbyn leadership election
successes. In fact, the Labour Party in 2017 and 2019, promoted policies and expenditure
programmes modest by comparison to those recently announced by the Johnson and
Sunak administration in response to the pandemic.
His
brother, David Miliband became the Member of Parliament for South
Shields in 2001 where I worked as Director of Social Services South
Tyneside1974-1990 and have lived since 2004. I first had direct contact with
David over the premature death of my childhood care mother in 2003 and he
arranged for me to meet with the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Department of
Health which led to a Health Ombudsman investigation and review report by the
Deputy Chief Ombudsman. In a telephone conversation from him in 2010 I
supported his candidature for Leadership of the Party because of what he had
done for the Borough since becoming its Member of Parliament and I hoped he would be able to do as a Prime
Minister. In 2011 I sent him a paper on
concerns arising from the Summer rioting, a copy of what he said he passed to
shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper who I supported in the 2015 leadership
election. The book, published by his father on Parliamentary Socialism together with the New Left book, Out of
Apathy, influenced my political thinking.
The
second significant return to office is that of Lord Falconer (79) as the
Attorney General, a man who also held government office throughout the Blair administrations as
Solicitor General (England and Wales), Housing and Planning, Home Affairs,
Constitutional Affairs, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. He
and Tony Blair shared a flat when they were young barristers in the late 1970’s.
Lord Falconer and his family own a
country retreat in Nottinghamshire, and he has been awarded an Honorary degree
by the University of Nottingham Trent. Of interest to me because of my national
involvement in the prevention of substance abuse throughout the 1970’s and
1980’s he has taken the view that prohibition has created the world wide manufacture,
transportation and distribution by organised by violent criminals, and profited
by many holding positions of power, including use by governments in their
foreign policies and interventions. I also like the fact that he became
addicted to Diet Coke when embarked on a major weigh losing diet which
comprised of eating mainly apples.
Jo
Stevens (53) is the new Secretary of State for Culture,
Media and Sport. She was born in Swansea, studied Law at Manchester University
and became a qualified solicitor in 1989, representing Cardiff Central in 2015 where she has
increased her majority from just under
4000 to over 17000 at the 2019 general election. She was
appointed shadow solicitor general and justice minister in 2016 and then
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales. She chairs the GMB Parliamentary Group
which funds more Labour Members of Parliament than any other union.
Luke
Pollard (40) is another Parliamentary newcomer(2017) brought into
the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs. Openly gay, his constituency office has been vandalised with
homophobic slurs. Born in Plymouth he held on to the seat of Plymouth Sutton in
2019 with a reduced majority because of the intervention of former conservative
Ann Widdicombe who stood for the Brexit Party after winning a seat in European Parliament earlier in the
year. Luke graduated from Exeter university first class honours in Politics with an
interest in the politics of the European Union and International Terrorism. For
five years was head of public affairs for the British Association of Travel
Agents.
The
son of a submariner based at Devonport he has supported a number of causes for
the south west and a year after entering the Commons was appointed by Jeremy
Corbyn the Shadow Minister for Flooding and Coastal Defence.
Another
new member of the shadow Labour team is Bridget Phillipson (36) the
Member of Parliament for Houghton and Sunderland South appointed as Chief
Secretary at the Treasury, thus the two individuals heading Labour’s policy on
the economy are women. Bridget was born in Gateshead, joined the Labour Party
aged 15 and graduated in modern history at Oxford in 2005, during which time
she co-chaired the university Labour party. Between 2007 and 2010 she
managed Sunderland’s women’ refuge. On
election to the Commons in became elected the chairperson of the All Party
Group on Domestic and sexual violence. Her majority dropped from over 12000 to
3000 in 2019. Bridgit has been a member
of the Public Accounts Committee and on the Statutory Instruments committee
involved in leaving the E.E.C.
Appointed
to shadow cabinet is Cat Smith (34) was elected to the House of Commons
for the constituency of Lancaster and Fleetwood in 2015, gaining the seat
from a Conservative 1265, increasing the
majority in 2017, and winning the seat again in 2019 with a reduced majority of
2380. She nominated Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership in 2015 having worked for
his political office after graduation in Sociology and gender studies at
Lancaster university and was appointed at Shadow Minister for women. She had
been clear and outspoken on her views as a Methodist Christian, socialist,
feminist, republican and trade unionist. She is now a shadow Cabinet Office Minister responsible
for Voter engagement and Youth Affairs in addition to being deputy Opposition
Leader of the House of Commons to Valerie Vaz who continues in this role. Cat was policy officer for the British
Association of Social Workers.
Baroness
Smith of Basildon (61) remains Labour’s Opposition leader in the
House of Lords. Angela Smith graduated in Public Administration at Leicester
Polytechnic and was a trainee accountant in the London Borough of Newham
before work for the League against Cruel
Sports 1983-1995 heading its political and public relations team. She was first
elected to Basildon in 1997 and had various positions including that of Gordon
Brown’s Parliamentary Private Secretary in 2007. She became a life peer in 2010 and in 2015 joined the Shadow Cabinet as Party Leader in
the Lords.
David
Lammy (47) an activist for the leadership campaign of Keir
Starmer is the new Minister for Justice replacing deputy leader candidate
Richard Burgon. Born in north London to parents from Guyana, David has chaired the
all-party group on fatherhood, stemming from his mother with four children
becoming a single parent when he was 12. By then he had won a choral scholarship
to Peterborough Cathedral Choir and then studied law at London University and
Harvard before becoming a barrister. Intending to become Greater London
Councillor, the death of the member for Tottenham led to him to be selected and
winning the seat in the by-election with majority of over 5000 in 2000 which he
has increased to over 30000. He held a number of government positions in the Tony
Blair and Gordon Brown governments.
In
2015 he nominated Jeremy Corbyn for the Leadership and attempted to become Labour’s
candidate for the position of London’s Mayor. David’s passionate, outspoken and
direct views make him an interesting appointment as secretary of State at the
department of Justice.
Preet
Gaur Gill (47) is the first female Sikh MP of Parliament, elected in
2017 to the midland’s constituency of Birmingham Edgbaston with a majority of
just under 7000 and appointed the Shadow Minister for International Development by Corbyn in 2018 and Secretary
of State by Starmer. Her mother was a seamstress, and her father a bus driver
who was President of the Sikh temple in Smethwick. The eldest of seven children
she attended Bournville College becoming the student president, graduating with
a first class degree at London University in Sociology and Social Work. Preet worked in a kibbutz in
Israel and street children in India. She was elected to Sandwell Council in
2012 and 2016. Before he role as shadow minister she served on the Home Affairs
select Committee. She is married to a social worker.
Baron
Tommy McAvoy, (76), the former Scottish member
of Parliament for Glasgow and Rutherglen 2005-2010 was a storeman and trade
union shop steward at the Hoover factory in Cambuslang. He worked in the Whips
office, a role in which he continued in House of Lords 2010, swapping the role
of Deputy Chief Labour Whip and also acting as spokesperson for Scotland and Northern
Ireland issues. He has the distinction
of remaining popular with Labour
Parliamentarians from all wings of the Party for his practical common sense approach
being formally congratulated by colleagues in 2006. It is anticipated that together with Ian Murray
he will represents the interest of Scotland, on working with the Scottish
Nationalist Party, while opposing their aim of Independence.
Deputy
Leadership candidate Ian Murray (43) is not only Labour’s sole
Member of Parliament in Scotland but increased his majority from 316 (2010) to
over 15000 in 2017) the highest since a Unionist Member in 1951. He has been
appointed the shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. Born in Edinburgh, his
mother a shop assistant and his father a Cooper, he graduated at 20,working
part time, developed business skills and says what he believes to be right
irrespective of personal political consequences. Without winning back a
substantial number of seats in Scotland from the Nationalists and other
parties, the Labour Party will not be
able to form a majority government, so his role is crucial. From what he said
at the hustings in Durham and read about him since, I believe he has the drive,
skill and experience required for the challenge.
The
new Secretary of State for Wales is the extraordinary among extraordinary
members of the new Shadow Cabinet Nia Griffiths (64) who speaks five
languages English, Welsh, Italian, French and Spanish. Born in Dublin to an
academic Welsh family she was educated in Hull and graduated with a first class
language degree from Oxford before training as a teacher at the university of
Wales. She became an Education Inspector in Wales. A member of the National
Union of Teachers and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers she also founded a Local women’s Aid
organisation. Before entering Parliament 2005 (Llanelli with a majority of 7234
increased to 12000 2017, reduced to 4600 in 2019) Nia became secretary of the
Carmarthenshire Labour Party and a local authority Councillor for ten
years. Married to a social worker she
divorced and in 2016 disclosed herself as a lesbian. Originally the Welsh
Secretary in 2015 I thought she looked uncomfortable in her role as secretary
of State for Defence and will lead
several Shadow Cabinet members to
represent the interests of Wales.
Keir
Starmer has reappointed the influential and veteran Manchester politician Tony
Lloyd (70) as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at a time of
crisis with the power sharing executive only re-established in January after an
absence for three years. He was admitted to hospital with coronavirus where he
is reported to be responding to treatment. Because of this situation Keir
Starmer has appointed Louis Haig (32) to deputise in his absence and
having done so it can be assumed she will
appointed to a Ministerial post when Tony is able to return to office.
Tony
Lloyd was raised in Stretford Manchester, attending the grammar school and the
graduating at Nottingham university in Mathematics before the Manchester
business school and becoming a lecturer in business studies at Salford
University. His father died when he was 13. H has said that his mother a
staunch Labour supporter who had friends who died in Spanish Civil War, influenced “his good versus evil approach
to politics’ and ‘if politics is
not about fighting for what is right and just, then what is politics for?’ When Deputy Leader at Trafford
Council, he was elected at Stretford in 1983. He left the Commons to
become Police and Crime Commissioner for Manchester and lost to Andy Burnham in the contest for Mayor.
He returned as MP for Rochdale in 2017.
The
professional politician John Healey (60) has held Ministerial and
Shadow Minister positions under Blair, Brown. Corbyn and now Starmer as
Secretary of State for Defence. Born in Wakefield he was educated in Pickering
and York a degree in social and political
science at Cambridge working first as a political journalist before becoming a
disability rights campaigner. In 1994 he became
campaign director of the Trade Union Congress and a tutor at the Open
University Business School. He was
elected to the Wentworth constituency in 1997, a safe leader seat with a
majority of just under 24000. The majority was reduced in the change
constituency of 2010 covering parts of
Rotherham and Barnsley, the area for which I had responsibility and for
Doncaster, when Assistant County Children’s Officer in 1970. The intervention
of a Brexit candidate reduced the majority to 2165 in 2019.
Jonathan
Reynolds (39) is the new Work and Pensions Secretary of State. He
was born in Houghton Le Spring in Tyne and Wear
and although moved to Manchester in 1998 he supports Sunderland Football
Club. The eldest of his four children is autistic and is Vice chair of the all
party interest group on Autism. He graduated in Politics and Modern History at
Manchester university before attending one of the seven private advance
education establishments in Britain provided by BBP holdings, its Manchester
Law school and trained as a solicitor.
He
was elected to Tameside Council in 2007 and served on Labour’s National
Executive 2003-2005. One of several Cooperative Party members of the Shadow
Cabinet he also is a member of the Unite union. Although describing himself
as a political moderate, he is in favour
of a universal basic income and supports renationalization of the railways,
Elected in 2010 for Stalybridge and Hyde in Greater Manchester with a majority
of 2744 he increased this to 8044 in 2017 but suffered a loss to 2946 in 2019.
Jon
Ashworth, (41) as Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social
Care, with Baroness Smith, Valerie Vaz and Nick Brown is only the fourth member
of the Corbyn Shadow Cabinet to undertake the same role. He was educated in
Bury and studied politics and philosophy at Durham. In 2000 he was the National
Secretary of Labour Students and work on policy and research for the Labour
Party in 2001. From 2004 he worked as an advisor to Treasury Ministers and became Political Secretary at Number 10 by
Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Jonathan entered the House of Commons in 2011 for
Leicester South in the byelection with a majority of 12000 which he increased
to 26261 in 2017 and suffered only a small reduction to 22675 in 2019. Although
his candidature was supported by Unite, Unison and the GMB unions he
wrote in the Daily Telegraph saying that ordinary people, not the unions chose
Labour MP’s. He voted against bombing in
Syria and made headline during the 2019 campaign quoted as saying to a
political friend that the Party would not win the election because of Corbyn’s
Leadership and the position on Brexit. He played a leading role in debates in
the Commons on the Coronavirus before Parliament went into early recess and
this is likely to be a factor in retaining his position.
Valerie
Vaz
(66) is continuing as the Shadow Leader of the House Commons, first appointed
by Jeremy Corbyn in 2016. She and her younger brother, the former member of the
House of Commons, Keith Vaz were born in
Aden in what is now war torn Yemen. The family are distant descendants of a
Catholic Saint and grew up in England at Twickenham and East Sheen although her
parents came from India where her father worked for the Times of India and in
the airline industry before taking his own life when she was 16 After attending
the Twickenham County Grammar School she obtained a degree in Biochemistry at
London University and matriculated at a Cambridge College undertaking research.
In 1984 she qualified as a solicitor and
became a deputy district court Judge. She also worked as a Treasury
Solicitor at the Ministry of Justice. She was elected to Ealing Borough Council
1986-1990 and became Deputy Leader. She became the M.P for Walsall South in 2010 with a majority of 1755 increasing the majority to
8892 in 2017, reduced to 3456 in 2019. She is wickedly entertaining in her
weekly analysis taking apart the Governments legislative programme and her performance
rivalling the studious Victorian
eloquence of the present Leader, William Reese Mogg.
Nick
Brown (69) has been the Member of Parliament for Newcastle
Upon Tyne East since 1983 with a majority of 7492 doubled in 2019 but ten
percent lower than 2017. He has been appointed the Chief Whip for Labour
Members in the House of Commons during the Blair, Brown, Corbyn and now Starmer
Leadership.
Educated
at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School he graduated at Manchester University and
became legal adviser for what was then the General and Municipal and
Boiler Makers Union in 1978, the most
powerful union today in financially sponsoring Labour Members in the House of
Commons. He was also elected to the City Council in1980. In 1985 he was
appointed a spokesman on Legal Affairs in the Commons. Although working closely with Blair and Brown
he became known as the staunchest ally of Gordon. Ed Miliband asked him to
stand down in 2010 to achieve a break with the past and he was out of favour until 2016 when his
skills were recognised by Jeremy Corbyn. He is a supporter of Humanists UK and an
honorary associate of the National Secular Society.
Steven
Reed
(57) is the new Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and was
Leader of Lambeth Council from 2006 to 2012.
He was born and raised in St Albans, Hertfordshire where his family
worked for the Odhams printing firm. I
persuaded my childhood care mother to buy me Odhams’ History of World War Two,
in two volumes after reading the War Crimes Tribunal Reports on Bergen Belson
and Auschwitz at the Wallington Public Reference Library recommended by the
Jesuit modern history teacher when I was 15. Steven Reed joined the Labour party before going to study
English at Sheffield University and worked in the educational publishing
Industry from 1990 to 2008. He became Deputy of the Local Government Association
which brought together all the local authority associations which had first
come together to establish a local authority strategy and programme for drugs
abuse prevention and treatment which I helped established, becoming an adviser
and chaired meetings of the adviser’s group. His various roles in Local
government led him to become one the most influential people in Local
Government. He was first elected to Croydon North in the 2012 byelection with a
majority of over 2500 which he increased to over 30000 in 2017.
The
father of Thangam Debbonaire (53),
the new Secretary of State for Housing
is of Indian Sri Lankan Tamil background. She was born in Peterborough and educated at the Bradford Girls Grammar School
and Cheetham School of Music, before commencing a Mathematics degree at Oxford and
training as a cellist at the Royal
School of Music. She gained an MSc in Management Development and Social
Responsibility at Bristol University. In addition to performing professionally
with orchestras including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic she worked as
National Children’s Officer for the women’s Ai Federation and also as National
Research Manager for anti-domestic violence organisation. She co-authored two
books and a number of papers on domestic violence before beings elected and
winning the constituency of Bristol West from the Liberal Democrats in 2015
with a majority of 5500 which she turned into a majority of over 37000 in 2017
after recovering from breast cancer reduced to 28000 in 2019. On 15th
September 2017 she held he first constituency surgery for people with the
autism spectrum. She has strong
views on a number of subjects including
the needs for a different policy and strategy on drug misuse but at same time
on the need for greater regulation of
alcohol because of the link with cancer.
She
is married to an opera singer, a former
actor who also works as a Director of charity working with children with
special educational needs.
Jim
McMahon (39) is the new Secretary of State for Transport, and is
the son of a lorry driver, leaving school at sixteen in Manchester and working
as an apprentice technician nd then senior technician at Manchester university
from 1997 to 2004, when he joined local government in its regeneration programme
and as a town centre manager. He was elected to Oldham City Council 2003 and
became the Labour Group leader in 2008 and Council Leader in 2011-2016 before
becoming the M.P for Oldham West and
Royton following the death of Michael Meacher. He came to national attention
for bringing the principles of the cooperative movement into local government
as chairman of the Cooperative Council innovation Network and then in a cross
party attempt to lower the voting age in general elections to sixteen.
Marsha
Chantel De Cordova (44) is the new Shadow Secretary of State for Women
and Equalities. One of a family of six children, including the professional
footballer Cordova Reid at Fulham and for Jamaica. Marsha was born visually
disabled with nystagmus, graduating with a degree in law at London South Bank
university working for number a number of charities until defeating the
Conservative Member for Battersea after serving on Lambeth Council since 2014.
Marsha converted the Conservative majority of 8000 to one for Labour of over
2000 in 2017 which against the trend for
the Party she increased to 5500 in 2019. On entering Parliament, Marsha was immediately appointed shadow minister for
the disabled by Jeremy Corbyn and appointed to the cabinet by Keir Starmer.
Andy
McDonald (62) is the new Shadow Secretary for Employment Rights moving from Transport where has been Shadow Minister and then Shadow
Secretary since 2016. Born in Acklam,
Middlesbrough, he attended local Catholic schools before studying for a law
degree at Leeds Polytechnic. For twenty years he worked in several roles in the
claimants specialising legal firm of Thompsons throughout the North, Cumbria
and North Yorkshire, heading the claims unit for members of British Armed
Forces. And was special adviser to the House of Commons Defence Select
Committee investigation on Armed Forces Pensions and Compensation. He was
elected to Middlesbrough Council in 1995. He was elected to the House of
Commons in the 2012 byelection following the death of Sir Stuart Bell and in
2013 he became Private Parliamentary Secretary to Emily Thornberry, then the
Shadow Attorney General and then for Chuka Umunna when he was shadow Secretary for Business.
I
have left to last the appointment about
which I was so thrilled that I shouted
out “yes” within hearing of my neighbours.
Dr
Rosena Chantelle Allin-Kahn (43) is the new Minister for Mental Health in the
Cabinet. She was born in Tooting to a Polish singer in the girl group Filipinki
who met her Pakistani background father when the band toured in London. The
couple separated after having two children and Mrs Allin Kahan worked three
jobs to support her family.
Rosena
also worked part time to fund a degree in medical biochemistry at Brunel
University and studied medicine at Cambridge funded through scholarships. She also
obtained a master’s degree in Public Health and worked as a humanitarian aid
doctor, continuing to work shifts as a junior doctor in the accident and
emergency department of St George’s Hospital Tooting in addition to her role as a Member of Parliament since 2016 when
she replaced Sadiq Khan when he became Mayor.
Previously
Rosena served on Wandsworth Council and
became Deputy Leader of the Labour group. The byelection occurred on the same
day as the political assassination of Jo Cox and she doubled the Labour majority from 3000 to 6000 which
she more than doubled to 15000 in 2017 reduced to 14000 in 2020
She
was regarded as the least likely of the five candidates to become Deputy Leader
following the resignation of Tom Watson but finished second.
She
is a practicing Muslim and an amateur female boxer where she is also the Balham
team doctor.
