Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...

assumed the position of

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

after being elected as leader of the Labour Party on 4 April 2020; the election was triggered by

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

's resignation following the Labour Party's electoral defeat at the 2019 general election when

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

formed a majority Conservative government. Starmer appointed his Shadow cabinet on 5 and 6 April. He reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet five times: in June 2020, May 2021, June 2021, November 2021 and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. His Shadow Cabinet appointments included MPs associated with the various wings of the party.

Angela Rayner Angela Rayner (' Bowen; born 28 March 1980) is a British politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government since 2024 United Kingdom general election, Jul ...

was appointed deputy labour leader and shadow deputy prime minister, while

Rachel Reeves Rachel Jane Reeves (born 13 February 1979) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Exchequer since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds West and Pudsey, formerly Leed ...

and

Yvette Cooper Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British politician who has served as Home Secretary since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, Cooper has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member of parliament (MP) for Po ...

were appointed as

shadow chancellor The shadow chancellor of the exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the chancellor of the exchequer. The title is given at the gift of the leader of the Opposition an ...

and

shadow home secretary In British politics, the shadow home secretary (formally known as the shadow secretary of state for the home department) is the person within the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (UK), shadow cabinet who shadows the home secretary; this effecti ...

, respectively. Former Labour leader

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for D ...

was appointed shadow energy and climate secretary. Other notable appointments included

David Lammy David Lindon Lammy FRSA (born 19 July 1972) is a British politician who has served as Foreign Secretary since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenham since 2000. Lammy previously held vario ...

shadow foreign secretary The shadow secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, commonly called the shadow foreign secretary, is a position within the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), UK official opposition shadow cabinet th ...

and

Wes Streeting Wesley Paul William Streeting (; born 21 January 1983) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford ...

shadow health secretary A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensional ...

. A reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet was undertaken in September 2023, which was dominated by Blairites and demoted MPs on the

soft left The soft left, also known as the open left, inside left and historically as the Tribunite left, is a faction within the British Labour Party. The term "soft left" was coined to distinguish the mainstream left, represented by former leader Michae ...

. Following the achievement by the Labour Party of a majority in the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

, the shadow cabinet was disbanded after Starmer became

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

on 5 July 2024, succeeding

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...

of the Conservative Party.

Shadow Cabinet

September 2023 – July 2024

November 2021 – September 2023

May 2021 – November 2021

April 2020 – May 2021

Shadow Ministers by department

In April 2020, Starmer's shadow cabinet was appointed over the course of the week following the leadership election, which included former leader

, as well as both of the candidates he defeated in the contest. He also appointed

Anneliese Dodds Anneliese Jane Dodds (born 16 March 1978) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician and public policy analyst who served as Minister of State for Development and Minister of State for Women and Equalities from July 2024 to February 2025. S ...

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer The shadow chancellor of the exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer, chancellor of ...

, making her the first woman to serve in that position in either a ministerial or shadow ministerial capacity. On 25 June 2020, Starmer dismissed his former leadership rival

Rebecca Long-Bailey Rebecca Roseanne Long-Bailey (' Long; born 22 September 1979) is a British Labour Party politician and solicitor who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Salford, previously Salford and Eccles, since 2015. She served in the Shadow Cabinet ...

from her post as

Shadow Secretary of State for Education The shadow secretary of state for education, also called the shadow education secretary, is an office in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet responsible for Official Opposition (United King ...

. Long-Bailey had refused to delete a tweet calling the actress

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in ''Dinnerladies (TV series), dinnerladies'', a sitcom on BBC One (1998–2000), as List of Shameless (British TV series) characters#Vero ...

an "absolute diamond" and linking to an interview in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' in which Peake said that the practice of kneeling on someone's neck by US police, as used in the

murder of George Floyd On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported that he made a purchase using a c ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, was "learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services". The original article stated that "the Israeli police has denied this." Starmer said that because the article "contained

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

conspiracy theories" it should not have been shared by Long-Bailey. The decision to dismiss Long-Bailey was criticised by the

Socialist Campaign Group The Socialist Campaign Group, also simply known as the Campaign Group, is a UK parliamentary caucus of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party including Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the Uni ...

, whose members met with Starmer about the decision. The decision was welcomed by some Jewish groups including the

Board of Deputies The Board of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as the Board of Deputies, is the largest and second oldest Jewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established in 17 ...

and the

Jewish Labour Movement The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), known as Poale Zion (Great Britain) from 1903 to 2004, is one of the oldest socialist societies affiliated to the UK Labour Party. It is a member of the progressive coalition of Avodah/ Meretz/ Arzenu/ Amein ...

. Starmer said that "restoring trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority. Antisemitism takes many different forms and it is important that we all are vigilant against it." On 27 June, he replaced her with

Kate Green Katherine Anne Green (born 2 May 1960) is a British politician serving as Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester for Policing and Crime since 2023. She previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Stretford and Urmston between 2010 and 202 ...

. On 23 September 2020, three frontbenchers (

Olivia Blake Olivia Frances Blake-Dagnall (born 10 March 1990) is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Hallam since 2019. Early life and education Olivia Blake was born on 10 March 1990 in Northallerton, N ...

Nadia Whittome Nadia Edith Whittome (, born 29 August 1996) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham East since 2019. A member of the Labour Party, she was previously the youngest MP upon her election at the age of 23. She ...

, and

Beth Winter Bethan Winter (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh politician and former member of Welsh Labour, who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Cynon Valley from 2019 to 2024. Early life and education Bethan Winter was born on 4 October 1974 and rais ...

) rebelled against Labour's position of abstention on the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill and voted against the bill; all three lost their frontbench roles over the issue. This move was seen as an indication of the firm discipline Starmer intended to exert over his party. In the third reading of the

Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021 (c. 4) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act makes provision for the use of undercover law enforcement agents and covert sources and the committing of crime ...

on 15 October 2020, the Labour Party stance was to abstain yet 34 Labour MPs rebelled, including shadow ministers

Dan Carden Daniel Joseph Carden (born 28 October 1986) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Walton since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, Carden identifies as a socialist and as belonging to the party's ...

and

Margaret Greenwood Margaret Greenwood (born 14 March 1959) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wirral West from 2015 to 2024. She is a member of the Labour Party. Biography A former teacher and community activist, Greenwood l ...

, and five parliamentary private secretaries who all resigned from their frontbench roles. These 34 were penalised the next day by being put on probation for going against the one-line whip to abstain. In April 2023, after writing an article in

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

, former

Shadow Home Secretary In British politics, the shadow home secretary (formally known as the shadow secretary of state for the home department) is the person within the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (UK), shadow cabinet who shadows the home secretary; this effecti ...

Diane Abbott Diane Julie Abbott (born 27 September 1953) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who has been serving as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987 Unit ...

was suspended as a Labour MP pending an investigation. In the article, Abbott claimed that although "many types of white people with points of difference" such as Jewish, Irish or Traveller people can experience prejudice, they are not subject to racism "all their lives". Abbott later apologised for the article, saying that she had erroneously sent an early draft of her article. A Labour Party statement said that the comments were "deeply offensive and wrong". Starmer said that she was suspended due to anti-Semitism.
Emily Thornberry expressed her disappointment at not being appointed to a senior ministerial position by Sir Keir Starmer, despite her extensive tenure as shadow attorney general. She emphasised her contributions to Labour's policies and committed to supporting Starmer's government despite her personal setback.

Reshuffles

May 2021 Shadow Cabinet reshuffle

In the aftermath of relatively poor results in the 2021 local elections, Starmer carried out a May 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle. Starmer dismissed

Chair of the Labour Party The Chair of the Labour Party is a position in the Labour Party of the United Kingdom. The Chair is responsible for administration of the party and overseeing general election campaigns, and is typically held concurrently with another position. ...

and National Campaign Coordinator following the elections. The move was criticised by

John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. He has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington ...

, former

, and

Andy Burnham Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017 Greater Manchester mayoral election, 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Brown ministry, Cabinet as Chief Secretary to th ...

Mayor of Greater Manchester The mayor of Greater Manchester is the directly elected metro mayor, mayor of Greater Manchester, responsible for strategic governance in the region that includes health, transport, housing, strategic planning, waste management, policing, the G ...

. The major outcome of the reshuffle was the demotion of the Shadow Chancellor,

was appointed as the new Shadow Chancellor and

succeeded Reeves as

Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a position in the British Shadow Cabinet, appointed by the leader of the Opposition. The post involves holding to account the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, who has control over the esta ...

Nick Brown Nicholas Hugh Brown (born 13 June 1950), known as Nick Brown, is a British former politician and trade unionist who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Newcastle upon Tyne East between 1983 and 2024. He represented the Labour Party unti ...

was dismissed as

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

and replaced by his deputy, Alan Campbell.

Valerie Vaz Valerie Carol Marian Vaz (born 7 December 1954) is a British Labour politician and former solicitor who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Walsall and Bloxwich, previously Walsall South, since 2010. She served as Shadow Leader of t ...

departed as

Shadow Leader of the House of Commons The Shadow Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet responsible for working with the Leader of the House of Commons, Leader of the House in arrangi ...

and was replaced by

Thangam Debbonaire Thangam Elizabeth Rachel Debbonaire, Baroness Debbonaire (' Singh; born 3 August 1966) is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol West between 2015 and 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she served as Shadow S ...

, who in turn was succeeded as Shadow Secretary of State for Housing by

Lucy Powell Lucy Maria Powell (born 10 October 1974) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since July 2024. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she has been the Member of Pa ...

. On 11 May 2021, Starmer's Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS)

Carolyn Harris Carolyn Harris (born 18 September 1960) is a Welsh politician serving as Deputy Leader of Welsh Labour since 2018. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Neath and Swansea East, previously Swansea East since 2015. Harris served as Sha ...

resigned, which ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' reported was after allegedly spreading false rumours about the private life of

prior to her dismissal.

Sharon Hodgson Sharon Hodgson (born 1 April 1966) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Washington and Gateshead South since 2024, and previously for Washington and Sunderland West and G ...

was appointed as Starmer's new PPS.

November 2021 Shadow Cabinet reshuffle

The November 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle, which was considered a surprise, included the promotion of

and

Shadow Foreign Secretary The shadow secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, commonly called the shadow foreign secretary, is a position within the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), UK official opposition shadow cabinet th ...

, respectively, while Miliband was moved from

Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Industrial Strategy A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade (shadow), shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section (geometry), cros ...

to Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero. The appointment of Cooper in particular was described by some commentators as a sign of Labour further splitting from the Corbyn leadership and moving to the right. The BBC's

Laura Kuenssberg Laura Juliet Kuenssberg (born 8 August 1976) is a British journalist who presents the BBC's Sunday morning politics show. She was succeeded as Political Editor of BBC News by Chris Mason. She succeeded Nick Robinson as Political Editor of ...

and

Robert Peston Robert James Kenneth Peston (born 25 April 1960) is an English journalist, presenter, and author. He is the Political Editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show '' Peston'' (previously '' Peston on Sunday'') alongsid ...

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...

said that the reshuffle aimed to "combine experience and youth" and end "the fatuous project of trying to ... placate Labour's warring factions", and instead chose "shadow ministers for their perceived ability". In the ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'', journalist

Stephen Bush Stephen Kupakwesu Bush is a British journalist. he is a columnist and associate editor at the ''Financial Times''. He has also written for ''The Guardian'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', '' The i Paper'' and ''New Statesman''. Early life and educ ...

suggested that Starmer had "removed underperforming shadow cabinet ministers and rewarded his biggest hitters – but the resulting shadow cabinet looks to be less than the sum of its parts."

2023

In September 2023, Starmer reshuffled his shadow cabinet for the third time since taking over as leader. Writers from

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

and

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

said that the

Blairite In British politics, Blairism is the political ideology of Tony Blair, the former leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, and those that support him, known as Blairites. It entered the '' New Penguin English Dictio ...

wing of the party had prospered in the reshuffle to the detriment of the soft left of the party. One shadow minister, said of the reshuffle, "It's all the Blairites" and called it "an entirely factional takeover". Starmer said that he was putting his "strongest possible players on the pitch" ahead of the upcoming general election. Tom Belger writing for

LabourList LabourList is a British news website supportive of, but independent of, the Labour Party, launched in 2009. Describing itself as Labour's "biggest independent grassroots e-network", the site's content includes news, commentary, interviews, campa ...

described the reshuffle as a continuing of "Labour's right-ward march". Starmer's deputy

received the shadow levelling up post, replacing

Lisa Nandy Lisa Eva Nandy (born 9 August 1979) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport since 2024. She has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Wigan constituency since 2010. Nandy previ ...

who was demoted to the shadow minister for international development. The most senior members of the shadow cabinet remained in their positions.

Rosena Allin-Khan Rosena Chantelle Allin-Khan (born 10 May 1978) is a British politician and medical doctor serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting since 2016. A member of the Labour Party, she attended shadow cabinet as Shadow Minister for Mental H ...

, who was the shadow minister for mental health before the reshuffle, resigned from the Shadow Cabinet, criticising shadow Health Secretary

's advocacy for outsourcing the NHS to the private sector. She also said that Starmer did "not see a space for a mental health portfolio in a Labour cabinet". The reshuffle coincided with the start of the tenure of Sue Gray as Starmer's new chief of staff.

Notes

References

{{UK Labour Party 2020 establishments in the United Kingdom 2020 in British politics British shadow cabinets Labour Party (UK) shadow cabinets Keir Starmer 2024 disestablishments in the United Kingdom