Here’s how the next Labour leader appoints a strong shadow cabinet

The UK, like the rest of the world, is gripped by the Covid-19 crisis. The death toll is climbing steadily, the already underfunded and fragmented NHS is under unprecedented strain, and we are heading for a recession miles worse than the global financial crash of 2008. As this new government tries to navigate its way through these unchartered waters, a strong, united and socialist opposition is more important than ever.

While the Labour leadership contest may seem like a sideshow in the context of a global pandemic, where the party goes next is of fundamental importance to the country. No other political party will give a voice to those hit hardest by this public health and economic crisis.

The new leader will be announced on Saturday, and soon after we will find out their choices for shadow cabinet. These appointments will be watched closely. Who they choose to be a member of their top team is a strong signal of the direction in which they want to take the party, and where they truly place themselves politically.

The shadow cabinet is of crucial importance to the leader. Meeting every Tuesday morning, it discusses the key political issues facing the country and the party. Apart from a handful of party positions that come with the right to attend shadow cabinet, such as leader of the House of Lords, it is entirely appointed by the leader. It is this top team that scrutinises the Tories, and acts as official spokespeople for the party. While driven by the leader politically, it has a key influence on political direction and policy responses. As we saw in the attempted coup in 2016, it can serve to undermine the leader, but equally it can be instrumental in supporting a leader when the going gets tough, which it always does for the left. Political appointments really do matter – so who should be in, and who should be out?

A strong shadow cabinet needs unity, loyalty, diversity, accountability and strong media performers to be the message carriers for the party. If we are to be a credible voice, it is vital that the Labour Party pulls together. We must leave the last four years of unhealthy and damaging division in the past. All candidates have made clear they want to unify, but this is not easy. With nearly 600,000 members, whoever wins must keep and engage them, and retain the title of largest political party in Western Europe. It will be a disaster if a candidate wins and there is immediately a huge slump in membership or lack of enthusiasm to fight for a Labour government. The new leader needs to inspire members with their political vision, including new appointments, and show that they want to bring people with them.

The first step must be for the new leader to find roles for the other candidates, and they should politically balance the Great Offices of State. Such appointments would see competent people in top roles, but equally as important, it would give a large group of the membership a stake in the party’s leadership moving forward. This has historical precedent and provides substance to the statements of unity so often used in internal campaigns.

The political challenges we faced in December 2019 haven’t gone away. In fact, Covid-19 has exposed how unequal and uneven this country is. But the Labour Party can only deliver if we hold together, and the candidates must make good on their campaign promises. Far from a natural leftie within the party, Starmer has run on a firmly left-wing platform, and anecdotally it seems a significant chunk of the left membership have been won over by his promise of ‘no turning back’. If he wins, he has no mandate to take the party to the right. Running on a unity platform means uniting the members around shared aims and values. A strategy that includes language like ‘scorched earth’ and ‘purging’ the left – as reported in The Sunday Times – will not get us off to the good start we deserve.

There can be no turning back on gender equality and diversity either. Jeremy Corbyn set records in Labour’s history in terms of diversity and gender balance in his top team. The next leader must follow suit, with at least half of the shadow cabinet being women, and appointing BAME members of the PLP. As well as the existing members of the shadow cabinet, there is a range of talents in old and new MPs to choose from.

Crucially, we need to focus on winning back those seats we lost in the general election. Without regaining trust in those mostly northern, working-class communities in the ‘Red Wall’ seats that we lost in droves to the Tories, we will stay locked out of power for decades. We cannot regain that trust with a shadow cabinet that does not represent or speak to those voters. Ian Lavery has chaired the party well, prioritising organising in working class communities, and he warned about the devastating impact our Brexit policy could have prior to this happening. Crucially, he is from one of those seats at the heart of Labour’s challenges, only managing to hold Wansbeck by 1,000 votes in 2019. Seats such as his need to be represented at the highest levels. If voices like Lavery, Andy McDonald and Jon Trickett are excluded from the shadow cabinet, the Labour Party will inevitably find it harder to regain the trust and credibility it so desperately needs.

If there is any silver-lining to this very dark cloud, I hope it is that the country can begin to heal following the sharp divisions experienced over the last few years, and truly recognise, and properly reward the value of those keeping our country running: our NHS staff, refuse collectors, supermarket workers; the list goes on. Only Labour is the party of the NHS and the working class, and we must lead the way in both upholding our principles and displaying unity to be an effective force to defend those hit hardest by Covid-19.