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    Posted by Mary on December 14, 2019, 9:03 pm, in reply to "Re: Trash in the Times"

    John McDonnell to quit shadow cabinet after Labour’s election disaster
    Boris Johnson starts victory tour of the north

    Caroline Wheeler
    December 14 2019

    Johnson promises to reward the loyalty of the north

    John McDonnell has confirmed he will step down from frontline politics following the Labour party’s crushing defeat in Thursday’s election.

    The shadow chancellor said will not be part of Labour’s next shadow cabinet, as he declared: “I’ve done my bit.”

    McDonnell said that that while Jeremy Corbyn was the “right leader”, he added that it was time for the party to “move on” under new leadership.

    John McDonnell has said that he will not be part of Labour’s next shadow cabinet
    John McDonnell has said that he will not be part of Labour’s next shadow cabinet

    “We will all go now,” he said. “The new leader will come in place and appoint a shadow cabinet. I won’t be part of the shadow cabinet. I’ve done my bit. We need to move on at that stage with that new leader.”

    Positioning in the race to become the next Labour leader has already started, with ardent Remainer David Lammy confirming he was considering putting his name forward.

    Others being touted to take over include Lisa Nandy, who represents Leave-voting Wigan, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Angela Rayner, Sir Keir Starmer, Jess Phillips and Emily Thornberry.

    McDonnell named Labour’s shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner, and shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon, as part of a “new generation” who could be expected to take leading positions.

    A source close to McDonnell, who has been shadow chancellor since 2015, said: “John will stay in place until a new leader and new frontbench team is in place.”

    The revelation comes after Corbyn indicated that he will quit as Labour leader in the early part of next year, despite facing calls to quit immediately after his party’s poor election performance.

    McDonnell, who retained the Hayes and Harlington seat he has held since 1997 in Thursday’s election, said that Corbyn had been “demonised by a smear campaign against him” by the media.

    “No. I didn’t back the wrong person because Jeremy was the right leader. We could have won in 2017. Things moved on. Brexit dominated everything,” he said.

    Asked if Corbyn was the reason for the party’s defeat, he added: “I think there is an issue to be discussed about how the use of the social media - but also the overall media - has turned someone who I think is one of the most principled, honest, sincere, committed anti-racist politicians demonised by a smear campaign against him.”

    The election saw Labour swept aside by the Conservatives in its heartlands in the Midlands, north Wales and north-eastern England, with Corbyn’s party securing the fewest number of seats since 1935.

    Some traditional Labour constituencies, such as Darlington in the north of England, now have a Conservative MP for the first time in decades - in the case of Bishop Auckland, for the first time since the seat was created.

    Johnson met supporters at a cricket club in Sedgefield, Tony Blair’s old constituency in County Durham. Photo

    Yesterday Boris Johnson vowed to repay the trust of former Labour supporters whose votes helped deliver him victory in the general election.

    The prime minister made a symbolic visit to Tony Blair’s old Sedgefield constituency in County Durham — which fell to the Tories on Thursday night - to pledge his commitment to spreading opportunity across the country.

    “We believe in giving opportunity to everyone,” he told a crowd of cheering supporters and newly-elected MPs from the region packed into the local cricket club.

    “We believe that talent is evenly distributed throughout our country, but opportunity is unfairly distributed.

    “We are going to rectify that as a One Nation Conservative government, as a people’s government, that is what we are going to do.”

    Sedgefield was one of a swathe of seats across the North, Midlands and north Wales in Labour’s hitherto impregnable “red wall” to go blue as the Tories stormed to an 80-seat majority in the new House of Commons.

    In his speech, Johnson acknowledged how difficult it was for many lifelong Labour supporters to break with the party and cast their votes for the Tories.

    “I can imagine people’s pencil’s hovering over the ballot paper and wavering before coming down for us and the Conservatives, and I know that people may have been breaking the voting habits of generations to vote for us,” he said.

    “And I want the people of the North East to know that we in the Conservative Party, and I, will repay your trust - and everything that we do, everything that I do as your Prime Minister, will be devoted to repaying that trust.”

    In a message to Tory MPs, Johnson also echoed the words of Blair when he became prime minister in 1997, saying: “Remember, we are not the masters, we are the servants now. Our job is to serve the people of this country.”

    In an upbeat address, Johnson insisted his Government’s priorities and those of its new supporters are the same.

    “It is getting Brexit done but it is also delivering on our National Health Service, our education, safer streets, better hospitals, a better future for our country,” he said.

    “We are going to recover our national self-confidence, our mojo, our self-belief. It is going to be a wonderful, wonderful time for our country. Our country will stand tall in the world' he said.
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/john-mcdonnell-to-quit-shadow-cabinet-after-labours-election-disaster-55kzjtbgt

    December 14 2019
    Jess Phillips, the maverick MP for Birmingham Yardley, is thought to have been quietly preparing a leadership run
    ELECTION 2019 | ANALYSIS
    Who will be the next Labour leader?
    Chris Smyth, Henry Zeffmann
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/who-could-be-the-next-labour-leader-names-in-the-frame-to-replace-corbyn-2djmzhk9j

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