Everything you need to know about the possible Shadow Cabinet reshuffle

A reshuffle of Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet is expected to take place this week. It is not thought to be planned as a major rearrangement of the top team, although high profile shadow ministers such as Hilary Benn, Andy Burnham and Maria Eagle could be moved.

The reshuffle has been a major story over the festive period, with first reports coming to light shortly before Christmas. In that period, rumours over who could be moved where have changed drastically, although it seems accepted that Shadow Foreign Secretary Benn is likely to be moved from his current post.

The desire to move Benn appears to stem from the disagreement over whether to support extending airstrikes on ISIS into Syria. Although Labour came to a position of offering a free vote on the issue, with Corbyn opposing and Benn supporting, the leader’s office feel that the splits on show were unhelpful, and would prefer to have someone in the foreign affairs role more naturally attuned to Corbyn’s own beliefs.

The Times reports (£) this morning that Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham has agreed with Benn an offer of a job swap to make the reshuffle as easy as possible – however, sources have denied this story.

Replacing Benn with another man would also remove the cover of promoting women within Corbyn’s frontbench, too. The leader came under fire after his original reshuffle in September for failing to appoint any women to the top jobs, and it is now thought that Emily Thornberry and Diane Abbott are both possibilities for the Shadow Foreign Secretary role.

Shadow Defence Secretary Maria Eagle could also see herself move as part of the shuffling of the deck. Corbyn had found difficulty filling the position originally, with his desire to appoint someone who was open to his staunch opposition to Trident. It now looks possible that Clive Lewis, who served as an infantry officer on a tour of Afghanistan in 2009, could be lined up for the role.

One person who now looks safe in their job is chief whip Rosie Winterton, after previous reports she too could be for the chop. It had been a possibility that Jon Trickett, a Corbyn ally who has a strong history of voting with the Labour whip, was lined up to replace her. However, after rumours began early last month, Labour MPs made a point of showing Winterton vocal support at a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting.

The leader’s office are hoping to avoid being seen as conducting what has already been dubbed a “revenge reshuffle”, with even Shadow Cabinet members like Michael Dugher publicly warning against it.

Should Corbyn be seen to be doing away with the broad team he promised upon winning the leadership in September, he could face resignations from some junior shadow ministers, making the reshuffle larger and more difficult than anticipated.

Once the reshuffle is under way, there will of course be the obligatory LabourList liveblog to keep you up-to-date.