You must be my lucky Starmer

It is becoming increasingly difficult to write this morning email, as the news is ever more devastating and surreal. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital last night with persistent coronavirus symptoms, and there are suggestions that he might be best off stepping back temporarily to focus on recovery. The Scottish chief medical officer was found to have defied her very own advice to visit a second home two weekends running, and ultimately had to resign. The Queen evoked memories of the Second World War in an address to the nation. All of this left Labour receiving little attention.

We hope that in these difficult times, however, LabourList can keep offering the inside track on party news, relevant analysis, and interesting comment. I want to do this in a way that periodically provides a respite from coronavirus developments, and on other occasions assists the Labour Party in constructively criticising the government response with the aim of improving it. And with that, we can launch into the huge Labour news of the weekend…

The Jeremy Corbyn era has come to an end. LabourList sends huge congratulations to new Labour leader Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner, whose campaigns clearly resonated with party members, supporters and affiliates. During the long campaign period, they both stressed the importance of party unity and winning elections, which is what Labour wanted to hear. You can read our write-up of the results here, and my snap analysis of the internal elections that also covers how Corbynsceptics swept the board in the ruling body by-elections.

From trade unions and devolved leaders to Momentum and Labour First, we compiled reactions to the results from across the labour movement here. We also had Dave Prentis of UNISON, which backed both Starmer and Rayner, write about why the duo make a winning team for Labour. We had reflections from Matt Wrack – general secretary of the FBU, which only re-affiliated under Corbyn – on how the relationship between unions and the party cannot be taken for granted. A Labour left perspective on the challenges ahead for Starmer can be found here, while former MP Nick Palmer set out next steps here.

Starmer has already announced senior appointments to the shadow cabinet, who will also make up a new ‘shadow C-19 committee’. John McDonnell and Diane Abbott had already chosen to resign, and the leader sacked Barry Gardiner, Ian Lavery and Jon Trickett yesterday. The new Shadow Chancellor is Anneliese Dodds, the first woman in the role. She is highly capable and respected by all wings of the party, underscoring Starmer’s unity message. Rachel Reeves, who had been tipped for the post, instead became Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. This is effectively replacing Trickett, who was shadow minister for the Cabinet Office. (Both roles are held in government by Michael Gove.)

The relatively unknown Nick Thomas-Symonds, an academic like Dodds and a barrister like Starmer, has replaced Abbott. Similarly to the new leader, he is praised by colleagues for being “forensic” at the despatch box. And leadership candidate Lisa Nandy clearly impressed Starmer with her campaign because she has been awarded the top job of Shadow Foreign Secretary. (Emily Thornberry will remain in shadow cabinet but her new post is unknown so far.) Angela Rayner will appropriately take on the campaigning and organising role of party chair.

The top team aims for factional balance: Reeves pleases ardent Corbynsceptics, Nandy boosts the soft left, Dodds comes recommended by McDonnell. England, Scotland and Wales are all represented. Could David Lammy, Bridget Phillipson and Preet Gill be among the other new appointments? A strong start from Starmer – we’ll be covering and analysing the rest of his picks when they are unveiled this afternoon.