John McDonnell tops shadow cabinet rankings for second month running

John McDonnell has topped LabourList’s shadow cabinet rankings for the second consecutive month. The shadow chancellor came in top with a score of 3.49, up from 3.37, and far ahead of Angela Eagle and Lisa Nandy who tied second at 3.31.

The Shadow Chancellor has been embarking on the New Economics project of “rewriting the rules” around the economy, this morning outlining his fiscal credibility plan in order to challenge Osborne’s austerity agenda ahead of the budget.

47 per cent gave McDonnell a 5/5 rating. However, Corbyn’s ally had the most polarised score of any member, with 72 per cent of readers awarding him either a 1 or a 5. Angela Eagle and Lisa Nandy, by contrast, resulted with high scores because of consistently above average polling – but with a much more even spread.

On the scale of 5/5 votes, Hilary Benn came second, but with roughly half of McDonnell’s score – with 25 per cent of those that voted. However, Benn’s scores were counteracted by and almost identical amount of people who rated him 1/5, 24 per cent, showing that Benn has is now something of a divisive figure. The Shadow Foreign Secretary ended up tenth overall, down from third in February.

Shadow International Development Secretary Diane Abbott came in 25th overall, but has a strong fanbase: if only full mark scores were taken into account, she would be in the top five places.

Owen Smith continues doing consistently well, finishing in third place, after finishing second last month. Smith has won praise for his campaigning over pension inequality in the past month.

The lowest score went to Karl Turner who scored 2.59. This is by no means a poor score – showing that overall, LabourList readers rate the frontbenchers quite highly. The Shadow Attorney General has only been in his role since January – time will show whether he carves out a strong reputation in the position.

See below for the full scores.