Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, is a British Labour peer and barrister who served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2003 to 2007.
The Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, or His Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition Shadow Cabinet, but usually simply the Shadow Cabinet, is the committee of senior members of the Official Opposition who scrutinise the work of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. Each Shadow Cabinet member is typically given a position which corresponds to that of a government minister in Cabinet. Shadow Cabinet members, known as Shadow Ministers, are usually appointed by the Leader of the Opposition. The role of a Shadow Minister is to develop alternative policies, hold the government to account for its actions and responses, and act as spokespeople for the opposition party in their own specific policy areas. By convention, Shadow Ministers are either serving members of the House of Commons or the House of Lords, with most chosen from the former. Since May 2010, Labour has been the Official Opposition, and its leadership therefore forms the current Shadow Cabinet.
Sharon Hodgson is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Washington and Sunderland West, previously Gateshead East and Washington West, since 2005.
Patrick Bosco McFadden is a British politician serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Labour National Campaign Coordinator since September 2023. He served as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury between 2021 and 2023. A member of the Labour Party, he has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South East since 2005.
The frontbench of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom consists of the Shadow Cabinet and other official shadow ministers of the political party currently serving as the Official Opposition. The Opposition front bench provide Parliamentary opposition to the British Government front bench, and is currently the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer since April 2020.
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015. He was previously Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.
Jennifer Chapman, Baroness Chapman of Darlington is a British politician serving as a Member of the House of Lords since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 2010 to 2019.
Roy Francis Kennedy, Baron Kennedy of Southwark, is a British Labour and Co-operative politician and life peer serving as Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords since 2021.
The shadow cabinet minister for international development is the lead spokesperson for the United Kingdom's Official Opposition on issues related to international aid, most notably to the Third World. The shadow cabinet minister holds the Minister of State for Development and Africa to account in Parliament. The role previously had no counterpart in the Government between 2020 and 2022 after the Department for International Development (DFID) and the role of international development secretary was abolished by the second Johnson government in 2020. The position was renamed from Shadow Secretary of State for International Development in November 2021 and placed under the Shadow Foreign Secretary.
The Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office is a position on the Official Opposition frontbench attending the British Shadow Cabinet, appointed by the Leader of the Opposition. The post involves holding the Cabinet Office and the Minister for the Cabinet Office to account.
The Shadow Leader of the House of Lords, also referred as the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords, is the person who leads the Official Opposition in the House of Lords. Their job is to work with the Leader, Lord Speaker and other senior Lords to organise business. They also work with the opposition Chief Whip and other party spokespeople to organise the party. The holder of this office would normally become Leader of the House of Lords if the party wins an election and forms the government. This position has been held by Baroness Smith of Basildon since 27 May 2015. In the nineteenth century, party affiliations were generally less fixed and the leaders in the two Houses were often of equal status. A single and clear Leader of the Opposition was only definitively settled if the opposition leader in the House of Commons or House of Lords was the outgoing prime minister. However, since the Parliament Act 1911, there has been no dispute that the leader in the House of Commons is pre-eminent and has always held the primary title.
The Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a position in the British Shadow Cabinet, appointed by the Leader of the Opposition. The post involves holding the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to account, who has control over the estates and rents of the Duchy of Lancaster. The position was re-established by Keir Starmer in April 2020, replacing the position of Shadow Lord President of the Council last held by Jon Trickett, which was split from Shadow Leader of the House of Commons by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Christina Rees is a Member of Parliament who served as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales in the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn from 2017 to 2020. She has been MP for Neath since 2015. Rees was elected as a Welsh Labour Co-operative Party MP, but was suspended from the party on 13 October 2022 due to allegations of bullying.
Jeremy Corbyn assumed the position of Leader of the Opposition after being elected as leader of the Labour Party on 12 September 2015; the election was triggered by Ed Miliband's resignation following the Labour Party's electoral defeat at the 2015 general election when David Cameron formed a majority Conservative government. The usual number of junior shadow ministers were also appointed.
In British politics, the Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, or informally Shadow Brexit Secretary, was a position within the opposition's shadow cabinet that dealt with issues surrounding the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. The position was only ever a part of Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet. If a Labour government had been elected, the Shadow Secretary of State would have been a likely choice to serve as the new Secretary of State.
Judith Vivienne Blake, Baroness Blake of Leeds is a British Labour politician serving as a life peer in the House of Lords since 2021. She serves on the opposition front bench as a Shadow Spokesperson for Housing, Communities and Local Government and an Opposition Whip.
Keir Starmer became Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom after being elected as Leader of the Labour Party on 4 April 2020. He appointed his Shadow Cabinet on 5 and 6 April. Starmer has reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet five times: in June 2020, May 2021, June 2021, November 2021 and September 2023.
Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom, carried out a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet on 9 May 2021. This followed disappointing results for the Labour Party, including historic defeat in the Hartlepool by-election and the loss of hundreds of councillors in local elections across England.
On 29 November 2021, Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom, carried out a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet. The slimmed down shadow cabinet, was seen to be Starmer creating a top team in his own image.
The frontbench of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom consists of the Shadow Cabinet and other official shadow ministers of the political party currently serving as the Official Opposition. The Opposition front bench provide Parliamentary opposition to the British Government front bench, and is currently the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer since April 2020.
