Keir Starmer accused of promoting narrow band of Blairites
The Independent Sir Keir Starmer said his shadow cabinet reshuffle meant Labour has the strongest possible players on the pitch after demoting Lisa Nandy ahead of the next election.
The biggest winner in the top team shake-up looked to be his deputy Angela Rayner, who was given Ms Nandys wide-ranging levelling-up brief and formally appointed shadow deputy prime minister.
The decision to move Ms Rayner, who had previously been shadowing the Cabinet Office, saw Ms Nandy seen as leading figure in Labours soft left demoted to the international development brief.
It means the Wigan MP, who rivalled Sir Keir for the leadership in 2020, is now only deputy to shadow foreign secretary David Lammy a position he replaced her in a little under two years ago.
A source close to Ms Nandy signalled there would be no dissent over her relegation, stating that she is a team player and was looking forward to getting stuck into her new role.
But pressure groups Momentum and Compass accused Sir Keir of promoting a narrow band of Blairites arguing the reshuffle amounted to a shift to the Right and a narrowing of the diversity of views.
