Shabana Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Ladywood, has resigned as Shadow Chief Secretary after the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the UK Labour Party.
Defeated leadership rivals Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall had also declared yesterday they would not take a role under Corbyn and his deputy Tom Watson.
The party split since Corbyn’s storming victory has widened in the last 48 hours, with Tristram Hunt, Rachel Reeves, Chris Leslie, Emma Reynolds and Jamie Reed also returning to the backbenches.
Ms Mahmood became the Shadow Minister (Home Affairs) in 2010, and from 2011 to 2013 she was the Shadow Minister (Business, innovation and skills). She became Labour’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury in May.
The former Oxford graduate was the first elected female Muslim to hold a Cabinet level role.
Yesterday Tom Watson urged Labour to unite around new leader.
But the MP for West Bromwich East warned that Labour was at a “critical moment” – and the public are “sick of politics”.
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Mr Corbyn won a landslide victory, receiving 59 per cent of “first preference” votes in an election where voters could pick multiple candidates.
The result was a rejection of candidates associated with recent Labour governments led by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
