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Sunday 13 September 2015 10:02 pm

Here’s what we know about Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour shadow cabinet: Andy Burnham shadow home secretary – and Chuka Umunna quits front bench

By: Lynsey Barber

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Jeremy Corbyn, the newly appointed leader of the Labour party, has been working on putting together a shadow cabinet in his first full day on the job – and made his first appointments on Sunday evening.

John McDonnell has been appointed shadow chancellor, Seema Malhotra as shadow Treasury secretary and Angela Eagle as shadow BIS.

Read more: Who moved where in Corbyn's shadow cabinet reshuffle

Andy Burnham, his main rival for the Labour leadership, will be taking on the role of shadow home secretary, and Lord Falconer of Thoroton is to be shadow justice secretary.

Hilary Benn has been confirmed as shadow foreign secretary and Heidi Alexander as shadow health secretary.

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna quit the front bench on Sunday evening, citing Jeremy Corbyn's negative stance on the EU as the reason. 

Several other high-profile MPs have already ruled themselves out of serving on the frontline, including defeated leadership contenders Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall, as well as Ed Miliband, Rachel Reeves, Emma Reynolds, Tristram Hunt, Jamie Reed and Chris Leslie.

Another frontbencher to resign is chief secretary to the treasury Shabana Mahmood, the BBC reports. 

Read more: Tories: Corbyn poses "serious risk to national security"

Earlier today, Rosie Winterton was among the first to be named, remaining as chief whip, and Baroness Smith of Basildon confirmed on Twitter she would remain Labour's leader in the Lords.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show on Sunday morning, new deputy leader Tom Watson said Corbyn was committed to "gender parity" in the shadow cabinet, after several female candidates for leader and deputy leader failed to win, and greater representation of working class people.

Defeated deputy leadership candidate, Angela Eagle, is the frontrunner for the shadow chancellor job.

Diane Abbott, a close ally of Corbyn, told the BBC's World at One that the new leader would not seek and exit from the European Union or from Nato, responding to further comments made earlier by Watson that there were differences within the party on key foreign policy issues, leading to speculation that there is already division within the party.

Watson urged the party to unite behind Corbyn: "I understand the concern of my colleagues in parliament, this is a huge change for the party, there is no point in denying this a huge political realignment too but Jeremy Corbyn has got a huge mandate from our members," he said.

Abbott, who lost out to Sadiq Kahn for Labour's London mayoral nomination, also said she has not been offered a position in the new shadow cabinet and was "very happy" on the backbenches.

Former home secretary David Blunkett and former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson have both spoken about the future of the party under Corbyn's leadership.

Writing for the Sunday Times, Mandelson said Labour now faced an "existential question".

"… to continue pursuing its historic role in government or be content operating on the fringe of politics. It is not Corbyn’s values or personality that are the problem but his views and policies. They are far to the left of Labour’s historic mainstream, basically a rehash of the early 1980s leftism that allowed Margaret Thatcher to secure a series of electoral victories. It was a political programme that wouldn’t work then and most certainly will not work three or more decades later."

Meanwhile, Blunkett warned that the party risked being out of power for a generation, writing in the Mail on Sunday. Speaking later to the BBC, he also warned his Labour colleagues to make sure they were "comfortable" with Corbyn's policies before accepting a shadow cabinet job.

Corbyn has spent the morning signing electoral commission paperwork accepting the position of leader and visiting Camden and Islington NHS Mental Health Trust's community fun day. He had been scheduled to appear on the Marr Show this morning.

Attended & spoke at Camden & Islington NHS Mental Health Trust's Fun Day -important annual community engagement event pic.twitter.com/sZO81K6yGT

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) September 13, 2015

Meanwhile, Labour Party general secretary Iain McNicol said 15,500 people became members of the party in the last 24 hours.

Check back here for updates on shadow cabinet appointments, as they happen. 

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