The new Labour leader has had to contend with the usual disturbances of a shadow cabinet reshuffle, and a whole lot more

Owen Jones, the commentator who has been offering some compelling advice to the Corbyn camp, recently tweeted that first impressions matter in politics. Given that, he argued, Jeremy Corbyn needs to hit the ground running and reach out to voters outside Westminster.

Few will say the first 48 hours have been a total success. Ministerial reshuffles, both in government and in opposition, are never easy to pull off. Details leak, jobs are rejected, egos abound and the politics is raw.

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Corbyn’s media advisers had gone to his house on Sunday morning to warn him and to talk through his reshuffle. The idea was to agree the details on Sunday and then appear on the BBC Today programme on Monday morning. It was a pretty traditional media plan.

But Corbyn objected. He does not like the “mainstream media”; believes its influence overrated and prefers direct personal contact or to use social media. According to one source close to the campaign, he also finds the invasion of his privacy hurtful. He could not, for instance, be persuaded by colleagues to drop three attacks on the press in his victory speech.

He wanted to go to an event about mental health in his constituency partly to give the cause publicity. Unfortunately, no TV crew was informed. From there he went to the chief whip’s office just off members’ lobby at Westminster. Present in the room was Rosie Winterton, the reappointed chief whip and her special adviser.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jeremy Corbyn believes the influence of “mainstream media” overrated. Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA

Corbyn’s most senior aide, Simon Fletcher, was also present. All responsibility for press was transferred over the weekend from Corbyn’s head of media, Carmel Nolan, and other campaign media advisers to the Labour party press office, which has had no previous dealings with the new leader.

No official communication went out about the switchover, leaving journalists with limited lines of communication into the leader’s camp. The official Jeremy for Leader Twitter feed operated sporadically, occasionally sending out incorrect appointments.

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Ivan Lewis, the now former shadow Northern Ireland secretary, rang Winterton early on Sunday morning to say he was willing to stay on in post during the crisis that has gripped the province. He felt he had contacts in Northern Ireland politics that were worth using to keep the prospect of a devolved settlement alive. Lewis was also aware that many in the unionist community were extremely jumpy about Corbyn’s Irish republican politics, and he thought his continued presence might reassure.

In the afternoon he and Corbyn spoke, and Lewis mentioned the antisemitic abuse he had been suffering on Twitter. Corbyn promised a meeting to discuss the issue. Lewis reassured Corbyn he did not think the new Labour leader was antisemitic, but felt he had been unwise in some of the people he had chosen to speak alongside. The bulk of the conversation turned on whether it was wise for Lewis to stay in the job only temporarily.

Corbyn said he would consider the conversation and get back to him. Five minutes later Lewis received a text from Corbyn saying he was not going to be asked to stay on. He was sacked.

The job was passed to Vernon Coaker who until now had been shadow defence secretary and acting as campaign manger for Yvette Cooper. Coaker had serious doubts about Corbyn’s plans and did not know if Corbyn really wanted to leave Nato.

Winterton turned to the shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant, a man that loved the culture job. Bryant is sceptical about replacing Trident: “I disagree on Nato and our attitude to the Middle East and Russia, that it would be unfair for him and unfair for me.” Bryant, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Russia, is one of Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critics, and could not match his own interventionist approach to Corbyn’s foreign politics. The resulting vacancy was parked.

Corbyn was making progress with the big apppointments. Andy Burnham had been in two minds about whether to serve, but decided party loyalty was his brand, and was attracted to the home secretaryship. Corbyn then spoke to Hilary Benn and offered him the shadow foreign secretary position, even though Corbyn knew he was pro-Europe, pro-Nato and pro-Trident.

Winterton used these acceptances to persuade others to climb aboard: “Andy is in, Hilary is in.” Corbyn was on the phone to Chuka Umunna, then shadow business secretary, who had been careful to brief that he was not going to immediately walk out but wait to see what Corbyn said on policy. Umunna needed to know if he was to lead the opposition on Monday to the second reading of the trade union bill in the Commons. In reality, Corbyn had already decided to appoint the left’s choice, Angela Eagle, to the role.

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No specific job offer was made to Umunna, but the two discussed Europe, his policy red line. Umunna’s identity as a moderate made him aware that he could not be churlish or appear disloyal, given Corbyn’s success in securing a huge amount of the vote. He said he asked Corbyn whether there were any circumstances in which he might recommend a no vote in the EU referendum. According to Umunna, Corbyn said he needed to keep his options open on how he responded to whatever deal David Cameron extracted from Europe.

The unions were still nervous that Cameron would try to negotiate an opt out for workers rights in Europe, and Corbyn said he needed the flexibility to reject the demands. In Brighton at the Trades Union Congress (TUC), before Umunna issued his statement, John McDonnell insisted Labour’s support for the EU depended on the outcome of the talks.

Around 8pm on Sunday Corbyn emerged, smartly dressed in a black shirt. “How is everything?” he was asked. “Everything is wonderful, just wonderful,” he replied, before adding that the night was but young.

Umunna then released his statement giving his reasons for not serving. By then it was obvious a power battle was under way about the appointment of McDonnell, his closest political party ally, to the shadow chancellorship. Corbyn felt strongly that the lessons from Labour’s history showed that if there was a lack of trust or political agreement between chancellor and party leader, the whole enterprise would stall. He was determined not to have a repeat of the tensions between Ed Miliband and his shadow chancellor Ed Balls.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Is John McDonnell a divisive figure? Photograph: PjrNews/Alamy

Others, including some union leaders, argued that McDonnell was too divisive a figure, pointing out that Labour MPs had refused even to put him onto the treasury select committee after the election. He was also warned about the male tone of his campaign.

The Corbyn team sent out instructions to get some appointments out into the media before the 10 o’clock news. It was revealed that all five senior posts, including the chancellorship, were to be held by men. Journalists from Sky News and BBC News overheard the discussions in the whips office about Labour MPs starting to complain online. This was surely not what a Corbyn shadow cabinet was meant to look like.



Then a male voice, sounding like Fletcher.

“We are taking a fair amount of shit out there about women.

“We need to do a Mandelson. Let’s make Angela shadow first minister of state. Like Mandelson was. She can cover PMQs. Tom (Watson) knows about this. Do the Angela bit now.”

At 12.19 am Labour headquarters sent out a second email, confirming that Eagle was to be shadow first minister of state. She would deputise at prime minister’s questions.

Was this the plan all along, or a last-minute reaction to outrage?

• This article was amended on 15 September 2015 to remove a reference to the attendance of Jeremy Corbyn’s son at a meeting at the chief whip’s office on Sunday. He was not present. This has been corrected.