Labour reshuffle unlikely today as Owen Smith poised for comeback

Jeremy Corbyn’s reshuffle is set to begin in the coming days following the leader’s upbeat welcome as he returned to parliament to lead a larger group of MPs.

Corbyn, who won cheers from colleagues on two occasions yesterday, could have a new shadow cabinet in place by the weekend but sources have played down expectations of a wave of appointments this afternoon.

The party leader faces a dilemma over the scale of the changes, with several MPs urging him to keep faith with the team that propelled Labour to a surprise performance and 40 per cent of the share of the vote in last week’s election.

John McDonnell and Emily Thornberry are expected to remain in post shadowing the Treasury and Foreign Office respectively. The pair are core Corbyn loyalists and regularly appeared on broadcast media during the election campaign.

Owen Smith, the former leadership contender, has been tipped for a return, having showered praise on Corbyn at the weekend and said: “I take my hat off to him”.

Smith could be appointed as shadow Northern Ireland secretary, the New Statesman reported. He would seem well-qualified for the role, having served as a special advisor to Paul Murphy when he was Northern Ireland secretary in the Blair government. The former cabinet minister previously said that Smith was his “right-hand man” during the complexities of the peace process.

There is uncertainty surrounding the position of Diane Abbott, who stepped down temporarily from the post of shadow home secretary last week, following a series of awkward interviews, but who last night disclosed she had been suffering from diabetes. She said she is now “ready to get back to work” in an indication she may wish to stay in position.