Who’s who in Labour’s new shadow cabinet?

Yesterday Labour leader Keir Starmer gave his cabinet a big shuffle, promoting some of his MPs to the front benches, shoving some previous frontrunners back and rejigging others sideways.

News of the reshuffle was dominated by whether he did or did not let his deputy leader Angela Rayner know if it was happening, but apart from that, there were some interesting moves.

Here’s a profile of some of the people occupying some of the biggest jobs:

Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Affairs: David Lammy

Previously the party’s shadow justice secretary, Lammy has also held ministerial roles in the departments of health, culture and education when Labour was actually in government - if you can remember such a time.

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Reacting to his appointment, he said:

Shadow Secretary of State of Climate Change and Net Zero: Ed Miliband

Former Labour leader Miliband - whose legacy involves a fierce debate over how to eat a bacon sandwich - has retained his climate change brief but lost his role shadowing business.

Miliband gave the Tories a thorough b******ing during Cop26 and is passionate about the environment so it seems like this is a good fit.

Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department: Yvette Cooper

Cooper previously shadowed the Home Office under Ed Miliband so this appointment is a return to a previous gig.

Like Lammy, she also has experience in government and was on Labour’s frontbench as work and pensions secretary from 2008 to 2010.

Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing, Communities & Local Government: Lisa Nandy

Moved out of the foreign office, Nandy will now work on the levelling up brief as Labour are forced to create a mirror for the daft department.

Nandy previously ran for leadership of the party and has long campaigned for localism and the importance of towns as a building block of British society.

Let’s just hope she has more success than us in working out what levelling up actually is.

Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care: Wes Streeting

Streeting has replaced Jonathan Ashworth as the shadow health minister - moving from his position as child poverty minister. The MP recently celebrated his being cured of kidney cancer.

And here’s the new shadow cabinet in full:

Deputy Leader, Shadow First Secretary of State, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work: Angela Rayner

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer: Rachel Reeves

Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Industrial Strategy: Jonathan Reynolds

Shadow Secretary of State of Climate Change and Net Zero: Ed Miliband

Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing, Communities & Local Government: Lisa Nandy

Shadow Secretary of State for Defence: John Healey

Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Lucy Powell

Shadow Secretary of State for Education: Bridget Phillipson

Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Jim McMahon

Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Affairs: David Lammy

Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care: Wes Streeting

Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department: Yvette Cooper

Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade: Nick Thomas-Symonds

Shadow Minister of State at the Cabinet Office: Jenny Chapman

Shadow Secretary of State for Justice: Steve Reed

Shadow Secretary of State for Transport: Louise Haigh

Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, Party Chair and Chair of Labour Policy Review: Anneliese Dodds

Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: Jonathan Ashworth

Shadow Attorney General: Emily Thornberry

Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health: Rosena Allin-Khan

Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development: Preet Gill

Shadow Chief Secretary to HM Treasury: Pat McFadden

Shadow Secretary of State for Wales: Jo Stevens

Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland: Ian Murray

Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland: Peter Kyle

National Campaign Coordinator: Shabana Mahmood

Shadow Leader of the House of Commons: Thangam Debbonaire

Shadow Chief Whip: Alan Campbell

Shadow Leader of the House of Lords: Angela Smith

Opposition Chief Whip in the House: Roy Kennedy