Jeremy Corbyn snubs Labour big beasts as he unveils new-look frontbench

Jeremy Corbyn: Picture credit - Joe Giddens/PA Wire/PA Images

Jeremy Corbyn has passed over several big name Labour MPs as he announced his new frontbench line-up. 

The Labour leader decided to overlook the likes of Chuka Umunna, Yvette Cooper, Hilary Benn and Ed Miliband as he filled his junior posts.

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But there was a rapid promotion for Chris Williamson, a long-standing ally of Corbyn, who has joined the shadow home affairs team less than a month after being re-elected MP for Derby North,.

Rachael Maskell, who resigned from her Shadow Cabinet job in February to vote against the triggering of Article 50, also returns to the frontbench.

She will work as a junior shadow transport minister alongside Karl Turner, who was one of the Labour MPs who quit their frontbench jobs last summer to try to force Corbyn to resign.

Gloria De Piero, who served in the Shadow Cabinet in the last parliament before also resigning in a bid to force Corbyn out, returns as a shadow justice minister.

And Labour’s housing team has been beefed up with the appointment of former minister Tony Lloyd and Grimsby MP Melanie Onn.

Corbyn said: “I’m delighted to be filling Labour’s shadow front bench with a wealth of talent.

“Our new shadow ministers will bolster the excellent work of Labour’s shadow cabinet and departmental teams.

“These appointments are further evidence that Labour is not just the opposition – we are the government in waiting.”

In total, 20 Labour MPs were given new shadow ministerial jobs.

The full list of Labour frontbench appointments: 

DEFRA

David Drew

Holly Lynch

Home Affairs

Nick Thomas Symonds

Chris Williamson

Afzal Khan

Louise Haigh

Scotland

Paul Sweeney

Justice

Gloria De Piero

Imran Hussain

International Development

Roberta Blackman Woods

Transport

Rachael Maskell

Karl Turner

Treasury

Anneliese Dodds

Housing

Tony Lloyd

Melanie Onn

Women and equalities

Carolyn Harris

Defence

Gerald Jones

Local Government

Yvonne Fovargue

Education

Tracy Brabin

Wales

Chris Ruane