Jeremy Corbyn confirms Diane Abbott is back as Shadow Home Secretary

Diane Abbott has returned to her role as Shadow Home Secretary, Jeremy Corbyn confirmed today.



Ms Abbott took a break from the frontbench towards the end of the election campaign to recover from an illness, which she later revealed to be Type 2 diabetes.

The Labour leader said today that she was back in post after recuperating.

“Diane suffers from Type 2 diabetes and suffered a great deal during the latter part of the election campaign,” he told ITV’s Peston on Sunday.

“I had a chat with her during that period and we felt that it was right that she took a break from intensive campaigning at the national level...

“She is getting all the support necessary and she is the Shadow Home Secretary.”

Mr Corbyn chose not to bring back big names like Yvette Cooper and Chuka Umunna when he unveiled a limited reshuffle of his Shadow Cabinet after the election.

He said he had kept the core of the election team in place because it had “performed absolutely brilliantly during the general election campaign”.

Ms Abbott revealed her illness in an Observer article last week, saying it had been “out of control” during the build-up to the election, when she made a series of poorly received television performances.

She said: “During the election campaign, everything went crazy – and the diabetes was out of control, the blood sugar was out of control.”