Former Labour leadership rival becomes shadow Northern Ireland secretary in one of four new appointments as most frontbenchers retain jobs

Jeremy Corbyn has appointed Owen Smith, his rival in last summer’s bitter leadership contest, to be the shadow Northern Ireland secretary in a light-touch Labour reshuffle that left key loyalists in place.

Smith, who was an adviser to the Northern Ireland secretary, Paul Murphy, in the last Labour government, challenged Corbyn after the mass walkout from the shadow cabinet and vote of no confidence in Corbyn’s leadership by MPs that followed last June’s Brexit vote.

But after Corbyn led his party to a much better than expected performance in last week’s general election, Smith, the MP for Pontypridd, retracted his fierce criticisms of Corbyn’s leadership qualities, saying: “I take my hat off to him.”

He was one of four new shadow cabinet appointments, with most frontbenchers remaining in their posts.

Corbyn was keen to display loyalty to the team of shadow ministers who have backed him throughout the turbulent last two years, rather than turning to former ministers such as Yvette Cooper and Caroline Flint, from different strands of the party, who have remained on the backbenches.

Several MPs from the 2015 intake, including Angela Rayner and Rebecca Long-Bailey, rose to prominent shadow cabinet roles when the party’s centrist MPs either refused to serve Corbyn because of concerns about his leftwing agenda or joined the walkout last summer.

Andrew Gwynne, who co-chaired the party’s election campaign and was widely regarded as performing strongly in media appearances, including a verbal tussle with Boris Johnson, will be the new communities and local government secretary.

The Brent Central MP, Dawn Butler, a longtime Corbyn loyalist who resigned over the party’s stance on article 50, will return as shadow minister for diverse communities. And Lesley Laird will be the shadow Scottish secretary.

Laird represents Gordon Brown’s old seat of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, in Fife. She was one of six new Labour MPs elected last week in Scotland, as the party seeks to rebuild its presence there.

The jobs of shadow Scottish and Northern Ireland secretary were previously combined, held by Dave Anderson, who has left parliament.

Ian Lavery, the ex-miner who co-chaired the election campaign with Gwynne, and gave tubthumping warm-up speeches for Corbyn at Labour rallies up and down the country, gains the extra job of Labour party chair, which has been stripped from the deputy leader, Tom Watson.

Corbyn said the promotion would help to bolster Labour’s readiness for a fresh general election. “Our party is now on a permanent campaign footing in anticipation of the failure of Theresa May’s attempt to establish a stable administration with the support of the DUP.

“I am therefore appointing Ian Lavery, co-national campaign coordinator, to the additional role of Labour party chair to strengthen our campaigning and party organisation as we prepare to contest a new general election and form the next government,” he said.

Party chair is largely an honorary title, but Corbyn loyalists believe it gave Watson extra leverage in last summer’s tense negotiations at Labour’s national executive committee over how the leadership campaign would be fought.



Watson will remain as shadow culture secretary, and his deputy leadership is an elected post. But Corbyn loyalists believe stripping him of the title of party chair will help to consolidate power around the leader and his immediate team.

After last week’s election result, which saw the largest increase in Labour’s share of the vote between two general election since 1945, a number of moderates, including the Streatham MP, Chuka Umunna, made clear they would be willing to return to the frontbench if asked.

Labour sources said nothing was ruled out in future, hinting that there could be more announcements to come. There is not yet anyone shadowing Damian Green in his new role as first secretary of state – effectively May’s deputy – though the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, is widely regarded as Corbyn’s number two.