Corbyn creates ‘Minister for Mental Health’ role as shadow cabinet announced

Jeremy Corbyn has appointed Liverpool Wavertree Labour MP, Luciana Berger, as his ‘Minister for Mental Health’ to his shadow cabinet, Labour has announced.

The post is a new creation of Mr Corbyn’s shadow administration and has no identical counterpart in the Conservative government.

Ms Berger (pictured) will directly work on mental health issues and consider how they can best be addressed by the NHS and prioritised by a Labour government. The new role will report to the Shadow Health Secretary, Heidi Alexander.

Ms Berger elected MP for Liverpool Wavertree in 2010 and appointed Shadow Minister for Public Health in 2013.

Her activities in Parliament have included campaigning against dangerous dogs and their owners, raising the issue of loopholes that allow companies to avoid their health and safety responsibilities and food poverty.

Announcing the appointment, Mr Corbyn said: “I am delighted that we have established a Shadow Cabinet position for mental health which is a matter I have long been interested in.”

Key appointments in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet include:

Deputy leader – Tom Watson.

The West Bromwich East MP was elected as Labour’s number two after the third round of counting, beating Stella Creasy.

Despite conceding policy differences with his new leader on key issues, Mr Watson has said there is “zero chance” of a successful coup against Mr Corbyn and he vowed to back him “100%”.

Elected to Parliament in 2001, 48-year-old Mr Watson – an ex-flatmate of union boss Len McCluskey – played a small part in toppling Tony Blair and served as minister for digital engagement under Gordon Brown.

He was given charge of the 2015 election campaign by Ed Miliband but quit as deputy chair at the height of the Falkirk candidate selection row in 2013.

Mr Watson gained wider public prominence when he turned his “attack dog” attentions from political opponents to the Murdoch media empire and helped expose the phone-hacking scandal.

Shadow chancellor – John McDonnell.

The veteran left-wing MP has been rewarded for propelling his close ally Mr Corbyn to the leadership by becoming the party’s spokesman on the economy.

He will be in charge of implementing Mr Corbyn’s radical anti-austerity policies while opposing a Chancellor in George Osborne whose stock has never been higher.

The Hayes and Harlington MP has no ministerial experience but has served on committees including a deregulation committee under the last Labour government and more recently the justice committee.

A serial rebel, Mr McDonnell enjoys very close links to the trade unions and favours renationalising the banks.

He recently declared he would “swim through vomit” to vote against benefit cuts in defiance of the party line, and faced criticism for reportedly telling a union event that he would “like to go back to the 1980s and assassinate Thatcher”.

Shadow home secretary – Andy Burnham.

Having finished a distant second in the party leadership election, Mr Burnham will now have to set his sights on Theresa May rather than David Cameron.

The Leigh MP has been given one of the top roles in the shadow cabinet, an advance on his previous post as shadow health secretary, and will have to take the Home Secretary to task over issues such as the refugee crisis and surveillance.

The passionate Evertonian held a ministerial role in the Home Office under the last Labour government and earned widespread respect for the leading role he played in having the inquiry into the Hillsborough disaster reopened in 2009.

He has also held a ministerial role in the Department for Health, followed by a year as chief secretary to the Treasury and a stint as culture secretary, but has drawn criticism over the Mid Staffs hospital scandal, which took place during his time as health secretary.

Mr Burnham has been dubbed “flip-flop Andy” in some quarters for apparent changes in his approach.

Once considered a Blairite, the frontbencher has since shifted towards the left, turning against the privatisation in the health service that Labour had presided over.

Shadow foreign secretary – Hilary Benn.

A survivor of the pre-Corbyn era, Mr Benn retains his post as shadow foreign secretary which he has held since May.

Unlike some of his new shadow cabinet colleagues, he has years of ministerial experience, having served in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

He was secretary of state for international development and environment, food and rural affairs between October 2003 and May 2010.

Since taking over the foreign affairs brief in May, he has questioned the Government’s plan to repeal the Human Rights Act (HRA) and faced off with Mr Osborne in the Commons at a Prime Minister’s Questions session when the Prime Minister was away.

Shadow first secretary of state and shadow business secretary – Angela Eagle.

Seen as a unifying figure of the soft left, Ms Eagle will now have to take on the mantle of implementing Mr Corbyn’s radical anti-austerity policies in the business sector.

The Wallasey MP has some Treasury experience, having served as exchequer secretary under Mr Brown and shadow chief secretary under Mr Miliband.

Since vacating that position in 2011, Ms Eagle has taken on the relatively low profile brief of shadow Commons leader where she has worked opposite the likes of William Hague, Andrew Lansley and Chris Grayling.

She was the MP who David Cameron told to “calm down, dear” during an exchange during Prime Minister’s Questions.

The PM later apologised for his remarks after being accused of sexism.

The 54-year-old is a keen chess player, having once represented England and winning numerous country championships with Lancashire.

That keen strategic brain may prove useful in opposing Mr Osborne who is seen as a master tactician who uses his Budgets as political weapons.

Shadow health secretary – Heidi Alexander.

The MP for Lewisham East will be a new face in the shadow cabinet, having not held a senior post within the parliamentary party before.

She nominated Mr Burnham in the leadership race and served as a whip under Mr Miliband’s leadership, after being elected in 2010.

Her campaigning work to save Lewisham hospital’s A&E unit may give an indication of the way she will oppose the Government’s health policies.

Ms Alexander’s commitment to her constituency was illustrated in 2011, when she cut short her honeymoon after the Commons was recalled to debate the rioting which had affected London and other English cities.

Her own constituency office had been vandalised during the disorder and she told MPs: “I first learnt of these events as I sat in a New York taxi, on my way to start my honeymoon. As I listened to voicemails – one from my alarm company, two from the police, I felt physically sick.”

Reacting to her new role on Twitter, she said: “Humbled to serve as Shadow Health Secretary. The NHS is facing immense challenges & I will do all I can to hold this Government to account.”

Shadow justice secretary – Lord Falconer.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton keeps his post as shadow justice secretary after being appointed by Harriet Harman in May.

A former flatmate and close ally of Mr Blair, his appointment will be seen as an attempt by Mr Corbyn to include people from all wings of the party.

He was a supporter of Mr Burnham’s leadership bid and faced accusations of sexism after claiming that “neither Yvette (Cooper) or Liz (Kendall) were able to steer the party through the challenging years ahead”.

The former lord chancellor has championed right-to-die legislation, which ran out of time in the House of Lords before being revived by another MP this year.

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury – Seema Malhotra.

The Feltham and Heston MP will work closely with shadow chancellor John McDonnell as part of the new look Labour Treasury team.

She was elected in 2011 before becoming the party’s first shadow minister tasked with tackling violence against women and girls, working alongside then shadow home secretary and defeated leadership hopeful Ms Cooper.

Ms Malhotra was a vice-chair of Ms Cooper’s ill-fated leadership campaign.

Shadow secretary of state for international development – Diane Abbott.

An ally of Mr Corbyn, the left-wing MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington has been rewarded for her support with a place at the shadow cabinet table.

Ms Abbott was defeated in the London mayoral race by Sadiq Khan last week and was also a beaten leadership candidate against Mr Miliband in 2010, before later serving a brief spell in his shadow cabinet.

She has been an outspoken critic of many of her own party’s policies over the nearly three decades since she became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons.

She has said her party’s leader will not seek Britain’s exit from Nato or the European Union but will maintain opposition to the renewal of Trident.

Chief whip – Rosie Winterton.

The retention of the well-respected party disciplinarian, who filled the role throughout Mr Miliband’s tenure as leader, could be an important element of maintaining unity.

Born in Doncaster, the 57-year-old was head of then deputy Labour leader John Prescott’s office before being elected to represent her home town in 1997.

She served in a succession of ministerial roles under both Mr Blair and Mr Brown.

Shadow leader of the House of Commons – Chris Bryant.

The former curate has had a colourful political career, including posting a selfie posing in skimpy underpants for a gay dating site.

In 2003, pictures procured from his Gaydar profile were published alongside transcripts of sexually explicit messages he sent to other site users.

A staunch pro-European, Mr Bryant acknowledges he has major policy differences with Mr Corbyn and predicted a “bumpy ride” for the new leadership.

He was a victim of phone-hacking and has campaigned for greater press regulation – a stance which is unlikely to change despite his shift away from the shadow culture portfolio.

Although he had been viewed as an arch-Blairite, Mr Bryant was one of the prime movers behind a 2006 letter calling for the former prime minister to stand down.

Shadow education secretary – Lucy Powell.

A key player under Mr Miliband, including acting as his chief of staff, Ms Powell was seen as instrumental in him winning the party leadership.

She was the vice-chair of the 2015 general election campaign, with a role taking responsibility for the party’s day-to-day operations.

Ms Powell, who entered parliament at by-election in 2012, nominated Mr Burnham for the leadership warning that the party had a “mountain to climb” to regain the trust of the public.

An Oxford graduate, she said the education brief was a “role I’m passionate about” and one “where I hope to make a difference”.