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On 4 September 2023, Keir Starmer, Leader of the UK Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, carried out a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet.[1][2][3][4] This was his third major reshuffle and was described as promoting his loyalists to senior roles.[5]
Starmer's deputy Angela Rayner received the shadow levelling up post, replacing Lisa Nandy who was demoted to the shadow minister for international development.[6] The most senior members of the shadow cabinet remained in their positions.[6] Rosena Allin-Khan, who was the shadow minister for mental health before the reshuffle, resigned from the Shadow Cabinet, criticising shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting's advocacy for outsourcing the NHS to the private sector.[7] She also said that Starmer did "not see a space for a mental health portfolio in a Labour cabinet".[8][9][10] The reshuffle coincided with the start of the tenure of Sue Gray as Starmer's new chief of staff.[11]
Writers from The Guardian and Politico said that the Blairite wing of the party had prospered in the reshuffle to the detriment of the soft left of the party.[12][13] One shadow minister, said of the reshuffle, "It's all the Blairites" and called it "an entirely factional takeover".[14] Starmer said that he was putting his "strongest possible players on the pitch" ahead of the upcoming general election.[6] Tom Belger writing for LabourList described the reshuffle as a continuing of "Labour's right-ward march".[15]