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Richard Burgon has been removed from Labour’s top team, as new leader Keir Starmer continues his reshuffle of the shadow cabinet.
The former shadow justice secretary is the latest close ally of Jeremy Corbyn to be sacked by Starmer.
On Sunday Starmer, who won a decisive victory in the leadership contest, removed Ian Lavery, Jon Trickett and Barry Gardiner.
Burgon said in a tweet that he had a “chat” with Starmer on Monday and would “continue to give my all” after he was told he was to return to the backbenches.
Meanwhile, Andrew Gwynne, who served as elections co-ordinator and shadow communities secretary, has decided to leave shadow cabinet.
In a letter to the new leader, he described his experiences under Corbyn as “tortuous”, while adding he felt “sidelined” and that he was left feeling “tired and bruised” after December’s devastating general election defeat.
Starmer announced a series of appointments on Sunday, which included:
- Anneliese Dodds as shadow chancellor
- Lisa Nandy as shadow foreign secretary
- Nick Thomas-Symonds as shadow home secretary
- Jonathan Ashworth remaining as shadow health secretary
- Angela Rayner as party chair
- Rachel Reeves as shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
This list of top MPs will form a committee to respond to coronavirus.
Starmer, who served as shadow Brexit secretary under Corbyn, secured a commanding win in the election on Saturday.
Angela Rayner, meanwhile, was elected deputy leader of the Labour Party.
Starmer won the leadership with 275,780 votes, or 56.2%, of the 490,731 votes cast.
Rayner won the deputy leadership with 228,944 votes, or 52.6%.