Shadow cabinet rankings 2016: Keir Starmer tops the tree

Keir Starmer has topped LabourList’s end of year rankings of the shadow cabinet.

Thr shadow Brexit secretary received a 5/5 score from 45 per cent of people who took part in the survey, considerably ahead of the second-placed member of the top team, John McDonnell.

The shadow chancellor won full marks from 38 per cent of respondents, and Angela Rayner, shadow education secretary, came in third on 35 per cent.

Brexit has dominated the political agenda throughout the year, meaning that Starmer – appointed in October – has had many big opportunities to put forward his political message, including in a key speech at Bloomberg earlier this month.

Starmer’s success in pushing the government to publish its basic Brexit strategy in recent weeks, which represented a significant climbdown from the prime minister’s previous stance of not reveal anything to the Commons, also will have helped.

McDonnell has repeatedly done well in previous shadow cabinet rankings we have done, with him claiming top spot three months in a row earlier this year.

Rayner delivered a standout conference speech, and has been heavily involved in Labour’s campaigning against Tory plans to introduce more grammar schools. At a Progress rally this month, Rayner said the fight against grammars is something the whole “Labour party family” can unite against.

2,362 of you participated in this survey. Thanks and Merry Christmas! 

Your top ten:
1st Keir Starmer – 45 per cent of respondents gave 5/5
2nd John McDonnell – 38 per cent
3rd Angela Rayner – 35 per cent
4th Emily Thornberry – 31 per cent
5th Richard Burgon – 29 per cent
6th Clive Lewis – 26 per cent
7th Diane Abbott – 23 per cent
8th Rebecca Long-Bailey – 22 per cent
9th Tom Watson – 20 per cent
10th Shami Chakrabarti – 19 per cent