Emily Thornberry, the new shadow defence secretary, has admitted to ITV News that she does not know why Jeremy Corbyn gave her the job.

Ms Thornberry, who wants to scrap the UK's nuclear deterrent, replaced pro-Trident Maria Eagle in Mr Corbyn's first reshuffle as Labour leader this week.

Asked whether she was handed the role purely for her views on Trident, Ms Thornberry told Lewis Vaughan Jones: "I don't know why Jeremy gave me this job but I know that I'm really honoured to be doing it."

The former lawyer was forced to resign from Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet in November 2014 for tweeting a picture of a white van parked outside a house with England flags.

Ms Thornberry said she was "hugely looking forward" to getting on with her new job and putting forward a strategy for "how we can best look after our country".

She also defended her links to a law firm accused of bringing cases against UK soldiers, and denied supporting the Stop the War Coalition like her boss Mr Corbyn.