Jeremy Corbyn reshuffles his Shadow Cabinet after scores quit to defy his three-line whip and vote against Article 50
Those who resigned from their positions are replaced - but the ones who voted against him but didn't quit have not yet been sacked
FURIOUS Jeremy Corbyn branded resignation claims “fake news” – as he kicked off the FOURTH reshuffle of his top team in little over a year.
The Labour leader has now had 63 MPs serve in his Shadow Cabinet after only 17 months in charge.
As the party descended into chaos over the Brexit vote, the Labour leader mimicked Donald Trump tearing into the BBC when challenged over rumours of his resignation.
And he insisted the resignation of rising star and Shadow Business Secretary Clive Lewis was not a “disaster”.
Last night the under-fire Labour boss managed to fill four vacancies in his top team following a series of resignations over his orders to back this week’s Brexit bill.
More than a third of the parliamentary Labour party have now served under him since he was elected in 2015.
The Labour leader promoted one-to-watch Rebecca Long-Bailey to Shadow Business Secretary, who took on Clive Lewis’ former brief.
Bootle MP Peter Dowd was parachuted into Ms Long-Bailey’s former role as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
And little-known Sue Hayman was elevated to Shadow Environment Secretary, with Neath MP Christina Rees becoming Shadow Wales Secretary, replacing Jo Stevens.
All of the four promoted MPs were only elected to parliament in 2015.
Labour said gaps in more junior front bench roles as well as a replacement for Shadow Communities Secretary Dawn Butler would be announced later.
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But it’s thought there will be no mass sacking of the 11 junior shadow ministers and three whips who were also among the 52 Labour rebels in Wednesday night’s vote.
It came as Mr Corbyn shrugged off rumours he was preparing to quit the party’s top job as “absolute nonsense”.
During a fractious BBC Breakfast interview, Mr Corbyn accused the programme of reporting “fake news”.
He said speculation he had set a date for stepping down were from “I made it up yesterday dot com”.
Quoting the line made famous by Donald Trump he said: “I’m really surprised the BBC is reporting fake news. There is no news. There is no news.”
A Conservative spokesman said: “This is Jeremy Corbyn’s fourth reshuffle and still nothing has changed.
“Labour remain completely out of touch with the concerns of ordinary, working people and are divided, divisive and unfit to govern.
“We need a strong, competent government to get the right deal for Britain abroad and a better deal for working people at home.”