The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Shadow cabinet elections: runners and riders

Your guide to all the confirmed candidates for the shadow cabinet elections.

By George Eaton Published 24 September 2010 15:29

With the shadow cabinet elections due to start as soon as the new Labour leader takes over, I thought it would be worth putting together a list of all declared candidates.

Below are the 43 confirmed candidates, with links to their "Vote for me" letters where appropriate.

Douglas Alexander

Hilary Benn

Ben Bradshaw

Roberta Blackman-Woods

Kevin Brennan

Liam Byrne

Chris Bryant

Vernon Coaker

Yvette Cooper

Angela Eagle

Mike Gapes

Helen Goodman

Peter Hain

Meg Hillier

Tessa Jowell

Eric Joyce

Chris Leslie

Pat McFadden

Fiona Mactaggart

Ann McKechin

Alun Michael

Gareth Thomas

Emily Thornberry

Stephen Timms

Stephen Twigg

Rosie Winterton

Shaun Woodward

Iain Wright

Also likely to run

Ed Balls (If defeated in leadership election)

Andy Burnham (If defeated)

John Denham

Jack Dromey

David Miliband (if defeated)

Ed Miliband (if defeated)

Jim Murphy

Gerry Sutcliffe

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Tags: Shadow Cabinet Labour leadership

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27 comments

Fri, 2010-09-24 15:50 — Tom @ Smarkets (not verified)

At Smarkets we have now opened markets on the senior positions in the new Shadow Cabinet. People might like to check them out.

Fri, 2010-09-24 15:58 — Shona (not verified)

I believe Stephen Timms is also standing. One of the most experienced candidates in terms of ministerial positions.

Fri, 2010-09-24 16:15 — swatantra nandanwar

Meg Hillier Sadiq Khan Ben Bradshaw and Caroline Flint would be welcome in any Shadow Cabinet, as well as the obvious ones like Yvette, Tessa, Hilary etc etc.

Fri, 2010-09-24 16:20 — Lou (not verified)

I'd like to see Chuka Umunna in the Shadow Cabinet

Sat, 2010-09-25 17:14 — Robert Taggart

Runners and Riders ?
Fallers surely ? !

Sat, 2010-09-25 17:49 — Max (not verified)

Douglas Alexander is a little sook and creep.

Fri, 2010-09-24 18:22 — Geraint (not verified)

I hope Shaun Woodward doesn't get in. He is a Tory.

Sat, 2010-10-02 16:31 — James T (not verified)

Looking at the list, i am sad to see a lack of people like Purnell, David Milliband and others especially the new generation under 40 year old MPs like Chuka Umanna who seem really talented (future leader there - you watch). But with all things considered my money would be on a Shadow Cabinet looking a little like this; -

Leader - Ed Milliband
Deputy Leader, & Cabinet Office / Olympics and Minster for Equalities. - Harriet Harman
Cheif Whip - Rosie Winterton
Shadow Chancellor - Yvette Cooper
Shadow Foreign Sec- Alan Johnson
Shadow Home Office - Ed Balls
Shadow Defence - Eric Joyce
Shadow Justice - Meg Hillier
Shadow Education - Sadiq Khan
Shadow Local Govt. - Dianne Abbot
Shadow Intern Dev - Chris Bryant
Shadow Business - Emily Thornberry
Shadow Chief Sec. Treasury - Andy Burnham
Shadow Health - Caroline Flint
Shadow Scotland - Douglas Alexander
Shadow NI - Peter Hain
Shadow Wales - Huw Irranca-Davis
Shadow Environment - Ben Bradshaw
Shadow Energy - Dianne Abbot
Shadow Culture - David Lammy
Shadow Work & Pensions - Tessa Jowell
Shadow Leader of the House - Maria Eagles

Sat, 2010-10-02 16:33 — ian pearce (not verified)

i assume by that guy from stoke you mean rob flello MP who is a good bloke, i hope he gets in, either him or tristam hunt MP who is very telegenic but completely inexperienced and you might have noticed NOT STANDING !

Wed, 2010-09-29 21:32 — daz (not verified)

i never even hurd of half these ppl!

Wed, 2010-09-29 21:38 — EZ Ryder (not verified)

i hope they ditch liam byrne for a bit, i used to rate him but that childish note is career threatening OG which will haunt him forever, he would be constantly attacked for it, there does need to be some younger fresher faces brought in I think, I would like to see the guy from stoke whats his name and also david milliband must be found a role, come on he;s the best candidate please find him something to do anything

Sun, 2010-09-26 20:26 — maria jones (not verified)

yes chuka must stand please, he is so good on the treasury select committee with his analytical legal mind and very media friendly/good looking

Sun, 2010-09-26 20:31 — keith p (not verified)

i just hope members vote for winners and good people not a bunch of beardy lefties who will turn the voters off.

my picks would be ed balls, david milliband, yvette cooper, caroline flint, chuka umunna, tristram hunt, alan johnson, dianne abbott, andy burnham, Gloria de Piero, hilary benn, emily thornberry, eric joyce, sadiq khan and meg hillier

the younger and more mixed looking the shadow cabinet the better in my opinion it will make the tories look like establishment has beens and reflect a change please retire gracefully old guard

Thu, 2010-10-07 20:21 — realist (not verified)

please dont let dianne abbott or any other loony left represent labour in public like that, they will turn off voters and just keep condems in power

Mon, 2010-10-04 12:32 — Grayling (not verified)

get the old guard out, sorry Hain, Coaker, Johnson, Woodward etc, your time is over, a new generation is needed to demonstrate vim and change

Mon, 2010-10-04 12:44 — Maria (not verified)

My Shadow Cabinet;

Leader - Ed Milliband (given)
Deputy Leader, Shadow Leader of the House and Shadow Deputy PM - Harriet Harman (given)
Chief Whip - Rosie Winterton (given)

Shadow Chancellor - Ed Balls
Shadow Foreign Sec - Alan Johnson
Shadow Home Sec - Yvette Cooper
Shadow Defence - Andy Burnham
Shadow Transport - Hillary Benn
Shadow Justice - Douglas Alexander
Shadow Education - John Denham
Shadow Business - Sadiq Khan
Shadow Local Govt. - Dianne Abbott
Shadow Int. Dev - Chris Bryant
Shadow Cabinet Office - Tessa Jowell
Shadow Environment -Emily Thornberry
Shadow Energy - David Lammy
Shadow Treasury - Douglas Alexander
Shadow Health - Caroline Flint
Shadow Scotland - Jim Murphy
Shadow NI - Eric Joyce
Shadow Wales - Huw Irranca-Davis
Shadow Culture - Meg Hillier
Shadow Work & Pensions - Ben Bradshaw

Thu, 2010-09-30 15:37 — m.g.phillips (not verified)

To reflect a balance of labour, some prominent blairites should be in the key posts - I would have hoped for David Milliband as shadow chancellor and think this is a massive loss for labour but in his absence, Alan Johnson must be given a key job, if he's not chancellor then foreign or home office as a minimum, if he's got real guts bring back miburn or purnell from the right for a key economic advisory post, Andy Burnham would be a good contender for SC or Foreign and I really rate ben bradshaw, perhaps for home office/equalities or communities due to his obvious commitment to civil rights for all. I think this is crucial or the red ed tag will stick.

Clearly Balls and Burnham must get reasonably high jobs after their showing in the election, i would suggest minimum Home Sec level for one of these and the other would get either Business or Pensions or something with an economic focus. Also Dianne Abbot will get elected I reckon, so a small role for her maybe equalities or environment or something like that?

you could add Harman and Y.Cooper to that list as women only needed.

Other than that its a very exciting open competition for places

andrew collins - labour 4 life!'s picture

Thu, 2010-09-30 15:49 — andrew collins - labour 4 life! (not verified)

my dream team would be:

Ed Milliband - leader
D. Milliband - chancellor
Ed Balls - Home Secretary
Yvette Cooper - Foreign Sec
H Harman - Commons Leader
Chucka Umanna - Treasury
Caroline Flint - Health
Rebecca Reeve - Environment
Tristram Hunt - Culture/History/Media
Chris Bryant - International Dev
Tessa Jowell - Cabinet/Olympics
Maria Eagles - Justice
Sadiq Khan - Transport
Ben Bradshaw - Communities
Huw Iranca-Davies - Wales/NI/Scot
Eric Joyce - defence
Rosie Winterton - Whip
David Lammy - energy/climate change
Meg Hillier - Business
Dianne Abbot - Justice

Wed, 2010-09-29 14:54 — sara (not verified)

i think you need a clear out and more young faces in there personally to make a break from the past and give the perception of this next generation / change thing like cameron did - i think more BME candidates like lammy should get in and also why limit it to six women, this is a minimum but you could have more still, i would like to see yvette cooper get chancellor, balls is great but lost credibility with his deficit approach and would be seen as too left wing and get bad PR for the whole party

Mon, 2010-09-27 12:27 — red ken (not verified)

a good list but surely ben bradshaw should be added, not sure you can go entirely for the next generation of 30-40 year olds, i appreciate that would create a welcome perception of change but you need a couple of the old bruisers and experienced heads in there too IMO i would bet jack dromney gets in too with union votes also chris bryant would be good and creepy douglas alexander is surely going to get in too. john denham id back too as he's my MP for southampton and he was anti iraq war

Mon, 2010-09-27 12:45 — a (not verified)

lammy is a shoe in too

Tue, 2010-09-28 11:08 — Daniel (not verified)

Assuming that David will not run and that the party does not adopt Ed Balls' economic policies lock, stock and barrel ... I think a good team would be:

Ed Miliband - Leader of the Opposition
Harriet Harman - Shadow Home Secretary (and Equalities)
Alan Johnson - Shadow Deputy PM and Shadow Leader of the Commons
Yvette Cooper - Shadow Chancellor
Douglas Alexander - Foreign Affairs
Sadiq Khan - Justice
Jim Murpy - Defence
Andy Burnham - Health
Ed Balls - Education, Universities and Science
John Denham - Work and Pensions
Liam Byrne - Business
Hilary Benn - Energy
Rosie Winterton - Communities
Tessa Jowell - Cabinet Office/Olympics
Barbara Keeley - Environment
Ben Bradshaw - Culture
Chris Bryant - International Development
Caroline Flint - Transport
John Healey - Treasury
Ann McKechin - Scotland
Peter Hain - Wales/Northern Ireland
Jan Royall - Opposition Leader in the Lords
Tony Lloyd - Chair of the PLP
Nick Brown - Opposition Chief Whip

Fri, 2010-10-01 14:10 — le moulin rouge (not verified)

im dissapointed by the quality of the female candidates, only harriet and caroline flint have any pre cabinet experience, we need some more female big hitters, i think it should be nearer 50% female it would really contrast to the condem then and get that critical female vote in

Mon, 2010-09-27 18:36 — ian mcdermott (not verified)

Well obviously the 5 leadership candidates should all have a role )(EVEN diane!) assume that most of existing shadow cabinet would get elected too...
But the guy i want to see stand is mehdi hasan !! come on mehdi you destroyed them on Question Time, stand for elections mate you would be a great addition to the shadow cabinet.

Can I also add im opposed to all women shortlists and the like, labour should always have a good mix of people but there are better ways to achieve this than targets

Mon, 2010-09-27 18:37 — Elenor Thompson (not verified)

Labour should be proud to have such a strong list of candidates, i think any of them would make excellent leaders and shadow cabinet will be far stronger than the Condem light weights like Osbourne

Fri, 2010-10-01 15:32 — MitchX2

My Shadow Cabinet;

Leader - Ed Milliband
Deputy Leader & Shadow Foreign Sec. - Harriet Harman
Shadow Chancellor - Yvette Cooper
Shadow Home Office - Ed Balls
Shadow Defence - Jim Murphy
Shadow Leader of the House - Alan Johnson
Shadow Justice (& DPM) - Hillary Benn
Shadow Education - Andy Burnham
Shadow Local Govt. - Tessa Jowell
Shadow Int. Developmet - Chris Bryant
Shadow Business - Emily Thornberry
Shadow Chief Sec. Treasury - Douglas Alexander
Shadow Health - Caroline Flint
Shadow Scotland - Eric Joyce
Shadow NI - Maria Engles
Shadow Wales - Huw Irranca-Davis
Shadow Environment - Sadiq Khan
Shadow Energy & CC - Dianne Abbot
Shadow Culture - Ann McKechin
Shadow Work & Pensions - Peter Hain