Anneliese Dodds named as Keir Starmer’s shadow chancellor
Anneliese Dodds has been named shadow chancellor under new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, less than three years after being elected to parliament.
Leadership rival Lisa Nandy has been named shadow foreign secretary, former Oxford don Nick Thomas-Symonds has been named shadow home secretary and Jon Ashworth has retained the shadow health portfolio.
Newly elected Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has been named as party chairman and Rachel Reeves as shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Nick Brown has been re-appointed as chief whip and Angela Smith will also remain as shadow leader of the Lords.
The remainder of the cabinet positions will be announced tomorrow.
Former shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry will remain in cabinet in an as yet unnamed position, while Jon Trickett, Barry Gardiner and Ian Lavery have been sacked.
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott both said they would resign from the cabinet after Labour’s historic election defeat in December.
In a statement, Starmer said: “We are living through a national emergency. Under my leadership, the Labour Party will always act in the country’s interest to save lives and protect livelihoods. That will be the number one priority of my Shadow Cabinet.
“We will be a responsible opposition that supports the government where we believe they are right and challenge them when we believe mistakes are being made.”
Dodds was formerly a public policy lecturer at King’s College London and Aston University, before being elected as an MEP for South East England in 2014.
She was elected as MP for Oxford East at the 2017 General Election and served as a shadow Treasury minister under Jeremy Corbyn.