No need for Labour MPs to struggle on TV with questions about shadow cabinet appointments – the answers are incredibly simple:
Q. Was it right for Jeremy Corbyn to appoint xxx to the shadow cabinet?
A. It’s one of Jeremy’s main jobs to appoint the shadow cabinet. If he wants xxx to do a job then it’s right that he appoints them.
Q. Was Corbyn right to dismiss xxx?
A. If a Labour leader doesn’t want someone to do a job, then he has to appoint someone else. It’s common sense.
Q. Yes, but was he right to dismiss person xxx over issue yyy?
A. If he doesn’t want someone to do a job, for whatever reason, then he has to appoint someone else. People managing teams up and down the county deal with these issues every day. It’s certainly never easy, but it is quite simple.
Q. Should xxx have resigned from the shadow cabinet over issue yyy?
A. If someone doesn’t want to do the job, for whatever reason, then obviously they should resign.
Q. Isn’t he appointing person xxx to the shadow cabinet to push through policy yyy?
A. The shadow cabinet doesn’t make Labour policy; the whole Labour movement does that together.
