A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left. Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Shadow Cabinet Results

The following have been elected to the Shadow Cabinet:

Cooper 232
Healey 192
Balls 179
Burnham 165
Angela Eagle 165
Johnson 163
Alexander 160
Murphy 160
Jowell 152
Flint 139
Denham 129
Benn 128
Khan 128
Creagh 119
McKechin 117
Maria Eagle 107
Hillier 106
Lewis 104
Byrne 100

And those not elected were:
Thornberry 99
Hain 97
MacTaggart 88
Keeley 87
Coaker 85
McFadden 84
Goodman 80
Lammy 80
Timms 79
Bryant 77
Woodward 72
Thomas 71
Jones 68
Brennan 64
Blackman-Woods 63
Abbott 59
Twigg 55
Harris 54
Bradshaw 53
Wright 43
Gardiner 41
Hanson 38
Lucas 34
David 30
Irranca-Davies 28
Leslie 26
Flello 15
Gapes 12
Michael 11
Joyce 10

Ex-officio members are as follows:
Ed Miliband
Harriet Harman
Rosie Winterton
Tony Lloyd
Lady Royall
Lord Bassam

Some instant reactions:
  • Well done to my fellow Hackneyite Meg Hillier. I think she is the first Hackney MP in a Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet role since Herbert Morrison.
  • It shows the PLP can be trusted to take this decision - it's not a perfect line up but it's a good one with a mixture of experience and new talent.
  • There's a good balance between supporters of different leadership candidates, suggesting a spirit of unity and balance in the PLP.
  • It pays to run for Leader - looks like Balls, Burnham and Abbott (despite losing) got boosted. And it pays to run a leadership campaign as in the case of Murphy, Khan and Alexander.
  • Peter Hain probably lost his seat because too many Welsh MPs ran.
  • All the fuss about the quota was irrelevant as it turned out the PLP wanted 8 women, more than the 6 they had to elect. This is very healthy and in marked contrast to the Coalition Cabinet.
  • There's a marked concentration of power in Yorkshire - the Leader, Chief Whip and 7 elected members have seats in the same region.
  • London is reasonably well represented compared to its under-representation in the past, with Harriet plus 3 elected members.
  • Coming back into the House after a term out through election defeat is a big disadvantage - Stephen Twigg and Chris Leslie would surely have got far more than 55 and 26 votes if their careers had not been interrupted in 2005 when they were both high-flying Ministers of State.
  • All the rumours about how likely John Healey was to get in were true and then some - to get 192 votes when not an incumbent is extraordinary.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Andrea said...

Bradshaw did particularly bad for an "incumbent", didn't he?

I didn't predict him in the top 19 but I thought he would have been in the top 30

11:45 pm, October 07, 2010

 
Blogger Merseymike said...

Not a bad team overall. Emily Thornberry should have made it, and I do think that Jowell and Johnson should have returned to the back benches.

The only two I really don't rate are Liam Byrne and Caroline Flint, particularly the latter

1:29 am, October 08, 2010

 
Blogger johnpaul said...

shameabout emily thornberry, not that I agree with a word she says annti terror laws or Policing

4:45 am, October 08, 2010

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Merseymike...Johnson to return to backbenches...er, why. Very able, very popular. What a silly idea. I want him in the foreign office.

9:24 am, October 08, 2010

 
Blogger Merseymike said...

Well: we have him as Chancellor! The reason is because I doubt he will be in government again and I would have liked to see some more new people

3:52 pm, October 08, 2010

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe Johnson is keeping the seat warm for Miliband Major in two years time?? ;-)

Though I do think he could do well against Gideon.......

11:25 pm, October 08, 2010

 
Blogger Merseymike said...

Thinking about it, Johnson at the Treasury may not be a bad idea.

First, he has a style which appeals to Labour voters and I think the fact he has actually experienced and lived the reality of being a single dad in a council house in a southern town will stand him in good stead for opposing the Cabinet's most oleaginous millionaire.

Second, he doesn't want to be leader and I am sure will be loyal - no plans to establish an alternative power base in the Treasury which I think we all have had enough of.

Also, I think Balls against May should be a treat - their proposals for the police, for example, are so utterly inept (an elected politician as an alternative to the chief constable - very dangerous) that there will be plenty of stuff for him to deal with and be an effective vote winner.

11:36 am, October 09, 2010

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No mnetion of your other 'Hackneyite MP?'
Aren't you thrilled got a shadow minster post?

5:08 pm, October 15, 2010

 

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