Sir Keir Starmer sacks Shadow Chancellor, Chief Whip and party chairman after local election humiliation
BUNGLING Sir Keir Starmer was last night struggling to reshuffle his top team in the wake of his local elections humiliation.
The embattled Labour boss has sacked his Shadow Chancellor, Chief Whip and party chairman after the Super Thursday drubbing.
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Rachel Reeves has now been promoted to shadow chancellor as part of Sir Keir’s reshuffle of his top team, with former incumbent Anneliese Dodds relegated to party chairman.
Deputy leader Angela Rayner, fired as party chairman and elections co-ordinator on Saturday following Labour’s shock Hartlepool by-election defeat, will take Ms Reeves’ former post as shadow chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster.
Nick Brown has been replaced as shadow chief whip by Alan Campbell, while Thangam Debbonaire has been moved to shadow Commons leader.
And Thangam Debbonaire has been moved to shadow Commons leader, replacing Valerie Vaz.
Nia Griffith, the shadow Welsh Secretary, described the changes as “musical chairs”, admitting: “we would all have liked to have seen things go more smoothly”.
Despite attempting to sack Angela Rayner, after a day of tense talks she emerged with the title: Deputy Leader, Shadow First Secretary of State, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work.
Her allies said the multiple jobs added up to a promotion, but Starmer's supporters rejected that as "spin."
Sir Keir said: “The Labour Party must be the party that embraces the demand for change across our country.
“That will require bold ideas and a relentless focus on the priorities of the British people.
“Just as the pandemic has changed what is possible and what is necessary, so Labour must change too.”
On Sunday some of Labour’s biggest beasts declared war after plans to demote the party's most prominent northern working class woman leaked early - sparking a botched 24 hour rejig effort.
They publicly savaged Sir Keir, accusing him of “scapegoating” Angela Rayner by stripping her of the party’s election planning role.
As the party is embroiled in a civil war, "King of the North" Andy Burnham slammed the news Ms Rayner had been sacked as chairman of the party.
The newly re-elected mayor of Greater Manchester said "I can't support this", as the campaigns co-ordinator was unceremoniously dismissed from office.
And Liverpool MP Kim Johnson said the sacking was "an appalling act of cowardice".
Former Home Secretary Diane Abbott slammed it as "baffling", adding "we've not heard anywhere in the country people saying they didn't vote Labour because of Angela Rayner".
Ms Rayner's opponents in the party leaked details of her use of first-class rail tickets to the Sunday Times, with allies claiming it was for safety reasons.
The full list for the Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle:
-- Rachel Reeves has replaced Anneliese Dodds as shadow chancellor.
– Anneliese Dodds has replaced Angela Rayner as the party chair.
– Alan Campbell has replaced Nick Brown as shadow chief whip.
– Lucy Powell has replaced Thangam Debbonaire as shadow housing secretary.
– Thangam Debbonaire has replaced Valerie Vaz as shadow leader of the House of Commons.
– Wes Streeting’s role as shadow minister for schools has been changed to child poverty secretary.
– Angela Rayner, who is deputy leader of the Labour party, has become shadow first secretary, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (taking the role from Rachel Reeves) and shadow secretary for the future of work.
Labour MPs have begun to turn on Sir Keir as others appear to be getting the blame for key losses in former strongholds.
“He is swinging like a punch drunk boxer on Saturday night.”
It comes after Sir Keir said he would personally take the blame for the election failings.
As well as undertaking a reshuffle, the former director of public prosecutions has also hired Gordon Brown's former chief pollster Deborah Mattinson - who has written a book about why Labour lost the so-called "red wall" at the 2019 general election - as director of strategy.
Boris Johnson spanked Sir Keir Starmer in “Super Thursday’s” elections — seizing the Red Wall jewel of Hartlepool and demolishing Labour across the country.
The humiliated leftie boss took “full responsibility” for the “bitterly disappointing” results as he desperately scrambled to save his leadership and party from extinction.
In an interview with Sky, Mr Burnham said he might have another go at becoming leader of the Labour party.
He said: "I feel I am in the best job in the world and we have a massive job ahead of us but I'm here to help the Labour Party if they need it - but they need to change, let's be really clear about this.
"They have lost an emotional connection with parts of the country that is going to take a lot of work to get back, so I think the party has to do a lot of soul-searching about these results and understand why we have done well in Wales, places like Greater Manchester, and it really needs to then buy in to English devolution and build from the bottom up - that's what these results are telling them."
Breaking his silence hours after the bombshell Hartlepool defeat, Sir Keir admitted he had failed to “connect” with voters.
He added the “bitterly disappointing” defeats show Labour is hopelessly out of touch with working-class Brits.
But he denied the party is facing a life or death battle for survival.
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Sir Keir said the party must stop “quarrelling” and tell Britons what it stands for.
He said: “The Labour Party has to rise to the challenge of reconnecting with working people."