Jeremy Corbyn keeps friends close as critics snipe from sidelines
The Labour leader has surrounded himself with loyalists, as critics claim he is disinterested in party unity.
Friday 7 October 2016 22:15, UK
This is the reshuffle in which Jeremy Corbyn stamped his authority on his party.
The biggest prize he had to give away was the position of shadow home secretary, vacated by Andy Burnham, and quite a carrot for a moderate MP thinking of returning to the fold.
Instead, it was handed to his staunchest ally in politics, Diane Abbott, making the top of the party a coterie of Corbyn loyalists, with John McDonnell and Emily Thornberry remaining in position as shadow chancellor and shadow foreign secretary.
Some of his critics - such as rising star Sir Keir Starmer and Trident opponent Nia Griffith - who walked out earlier this year have returned to the fold, saying they want to help form a strong opposition in turbulent times.
Jon Ashworth, one of the few moderates who did not resign his shadow cabinet position during the wave of discontent over the summer, has won a promotion to shadow health secretary.
But to take on this role, he has sacrificed his seat on Labour's powerful ruling committee, the NEC, which could, in time, strengthen Mr Corbyn's hand over policy and appointments.
While Mr Corbyn's loudest critics have largely kept quiet during this process, anger within the party spilled over with a leaked letter from the chair of the parliamentary party John Cryer.
Expressing "deep regret" over the turn of events, he revealed that MPs had no idea that talks over elections to the shadow cabinet had been dropped until the reshuffle began on Wednesday.
The most recent battle fought by Mr Corbyn's critics was to try to persuade him to reinstate shadow elections, which were dropped under Ed Miliband's leadership.
Longstanding Chief Whip Rosie Winterton was leading these peace talks until she was sacked, in the surprise of the reshuffle.
Elections, which are still due to be discussed next month, would have given those serving in Mr Corbyn's team a much stronger hand if they disagreed with the direction of the leader.
The idea seems to have been shelved for now.
Mr Corbyn is the most confident he has been since becoming leader a year ago. His third reshuffle has been quick and relatively slick compared with the 34-hour marathon of his first one, and a chaotic second one which left a number of key positions vacant.
He now has a functional line-up and has done what many of his supporters were urging him to do from the start - keep his friends close and his opponents out of the top team.
For the time being his critics, who say he has little interest in party unity, can only shout from the sidelines.