Jeremy Corbyn has chosen his shadow cabinet: Here’s how the UK is reacting right now
It's fair to say Jeremy Corbyn's election as the new Labour leader has prompted a variety of responses – but the criticism is rolling in already, as everyone from business people to fellow politicians, think tanks and the wider electorate piled in on his first decisions as leader this morning.
His selection of shadow cabinet members has come in for most attack, both from those questioning their views and others highlighting the relatively few women in senior roles.
Chief executive of the Taxpayers Alliance Jonathan Isaby said John McDonnell's promotion to the role of shadow chancellor was akin to a hallucination or “a bad dream”.
https://twitter.com/isaby/status/643292246524207104
It was “literally incredible,” he added.
https://twitter.com/isaby/status/643187339225919488
But not everyone shares that view. Ladbrokes has McDonnell as 20/1 to be the next chancellor of the Exchequer…
The Insitute of Economic Affairs' Christopher Snowdon dubbed the front bench appointees “crazies”.
https://twitter.com/cjsnowdon/status/643183967819177984
https://twitter.com/cjsnowdon/status/643202373272371200
The Adam Smith Instistute's Sam Bowman said the shadow cabinet appointments would make it difficult for Labout to challenge the Tories on policy detail. “Their own policies will be 'interesting but unlikely', think tank style,” he said.
https://twitter.com/s8mb/status/643164547126284288
Conservative Home executive editor Mark Wallace was excited…
https://twitter.com/wallaceme/status/643203713725767681
Others were less impressed…
https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/643356333723516928
It's not just the shadow cabinet that Corbyn is being criticised over. He is also getting heat for not speaking to journalists after this clip went viral.
https://twitter.com/DMcCaffreySKY/status/643212718502223872
And the Conservative party left us in no doubt as to their view – at least publicly – of Jeremy Corbyn's election this weekend.
“Labour's new leader is a threat to our national security, our economic security and your family's security,” said the mail shot sent out shortly after the news was announced.
The party focused in particular on his foreign policy approach, quoting him as saying the death of Osama bin Laden was “a tragedy” and describing Hamas and Hezbollah as “friends”.
The campaign also warned that he said Labour had “spent too little” when it was last in government adding that he thinks people should pay “quite a lot more taxes”.
But Corbyn hasn't just been attacked from the right wing – his own party members have turned on him, with one MP saying he held policy positions that were “poorly informed and fundamentally wrong”.
Despite that, some groups are open to starting a dialogue. Simon Walker, director general at the Institute of Directors, admitted that “business has not always seen eye-to-eye with the new leader of the opposition”.
However, he was pragmatic about the future.
“Politicians and business leaders are never in perfect agreement on how the economy should be managed, irrespective of who is in government, and who in opposition. We will continue to engage with Labour honestly and directly on behalf our members, who represent businesses large and small across the UK, and hold a variety of political views.”