Ed Miliband could make shock return to Labour’s shadow cabinet despite being a Jeremy Corbyn critic
Former party leader is being touted for a return to the front bench along with other senior MPs sceptical of his successor
ED MILIBAND could make a shock return to Labour’s shadow cabinet despite being a Jeremy Corbyn critic in the past.
The former leader is being touted for a move back to the party’s front bench along with other senior MPs who had been sceptical of his successor.
After Mr Corbyn’s better-than-expected performance in Thursday’s election big hitters in the so-called “moderate” wing of the party have been angling to be restored to the top table.
Two of whom – Yvette Cooper and Chuka Umunna – had reportedly been potential planning leadership campaigns until the party ended up winning 30 seats and finishing with 40 per cent of the vote share.
But a return Mr Miliband, who led Labour for five years before defeat at the 2015 election, is also not being ruled out, according to Labour sources.
After the result of the snap poll he tweeted: “ Congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn for his inspired campaign.
“He showed people a vision of a fairer society and millions voted for change.”
But last year Mr Miliband told Mr Corbyn he should stand down as Labour leader in a stinging attack.
He said he had lost the confidence of the party’s MPs in parliament, and told the BBC: “I've reluctantly reached a conclusion that his position is untenable."
Mr Corbyn signalled yesterday he would be willing to let senior figures, many of whom resigned in protest at his leadership, come back to a senior position.
But two of his allies said they would not be welcoming, with Emily Thornberry saying: "There are a lot of very good new people who have joined the shadow cabinet who have stuck with Jeremy Corbyn through thick and thin, very difficult times, and that needs to be recognised.”
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell echoed the Shadow Foreign Secretary, saying: "My view is we want to draw upon all the talents, but our shadow cabinet at the moment was a winning team.
“It's just won effectively votes that no one predicted that we would, so I don't want to break up that winning team."