The Labour Party has appointed MP for Leicester West, Liz Kendell, as its new Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary in Labour leader, Keir Starmer’s, reshuffle.

Kendall replaces Jonathan Ashworth, who has become the party’s Shadow Paymaster General.

Prior to her appointment as Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Kendall was most recently Shadow Minister for Social Care, a role she held for more than three years.

She was first elected as an MP for Leicester West in 2010 and joined the opposition frontbench as Shadow Junior Health Minister in Ed Miliband’s first reshuffle in October 2010.

In May 2015, Kendall announced that she was standing to succeed Miliband as leader of the Labour party, but ultimately lost out to Jeremy Corbyn.

Following the election of Corbyn as Labour leader, she resigned from the Shadow Cabinet but continued as an MP.

Upon winning the 2020 Labour leadership election, Starmer reappointed Kendall to the frontbench as Shadow Minister for Social Care.

Commenting on her appointment as Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary on X (formerly Twitter), Kendall said: “Honoured to have been asked by Keir Starmer to take on this important role.

“Looking forward to working with our great UK Labour team to deliver the change our country desperately needs.”

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