Corbyn appointed his first Shadow Cabinet in September 2015. A small reshuffle occurred on 5 January 2016, with one further resignation on 11 January 2016. Dozens of further resignations occurred on 26 and 27 June 2016.[1]
Corbyn named his first Shadow Cabinet appointments on 13 September and announced its full composition on 14 September. One of Labour's largest reshuffles, the announcement was further delayed by a large number of previous Shadow Cabinet members publicly announcing they would not participate under Corbyn, even if called to do so. The following members declined to serve:
Liz Kendall resigned as Shadow Minister for Care and Older People (attending Shadow Cabinet); a junior minister appointment was not announced immediately.[4]Barbara Keeley was appointed in October 2016.
In his inaugural Shadow Cabinet, 17 out of 31 members were women, making it the first frontbench team in British parliamentary history to comprise a female majority. Corbyn was criticised for giving what are traditionally seen as the top jobs (Chancellor, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary) to men, although he insisted that positions such as Education and Health Secretary were just as important.[8]
On 11 January 2016, Shadow Attorney General Catherine McKinnell resigned, citing party infighting, family reasons and a wish to speak in Parliament away from front-bench responsibilities. She was replaced by Karl Turner.[13]
On Sunday 26 June and Monday 27 June 2016, a number of members of the shadow cabinet either resigned or were sacked. This process began with Jeremy Corbyn sacking Hilary Benn as Shadow Foreign Secretary in the early hours of Sunday morning after Corbyn informed Benn that he knew Benn had been constructing a coup against the Leadership during the run up to the vote to leave the European Union. Subsequently, the following resigned (in chronological order):
All cited concerns over the EU vote and Corbyn's leadership.[14][citation needed]
Lords leader Angela Smith of Basildon and Lords chief whip Steve Bassam stated they would boycott shadow cabinet meetings while Jeremy Corbyn remained leader. They remained members of the shadow cabinet as these positions are elected by the Labour members of the upper chamber. They returned to attending shadow cabinet four months later.[15][16]
New appointments
Following the resignations, Corbyn appointed several new MPs to shadow cabinet positions:[17]
John Healey, who had resigned as Shadow Secretary of State for Housing in the previous June reshuffle, returned and was promoted to Shadow Secretary of State for Housing.
Later that month, Corbyn sacked three shadow ministers (Ruth Cadbury, Catherine West and Andy Slaughter) and a fourth (Daniel Zeichner) resigned.[26] This was after they had rebelled against party orders to abstain in the vote on a motion that was proposed by the then Labour MP Chuka Umunna and was aimed at keeping the UK in the EU single market.[26]
Debbie Abrahams, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, was sacked. She was replaced by Margaret Greenwood. Owen Smith, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, was sacked. He was replaced by Tony Lloyd.
December 2018
Kate Osamor, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, resigned. She was replaced by Dan Carden.
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