Diane Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington has been named shadow health secretary, after Heidi Alexander resigned from the Labour frontbench.
Ms Abbott has been an MP since 1987 and was the first black woman to be elected to parliament. She has previously served as shadow minister for public health under Ed Miliband, and shadow secretary for international development.
Ms Alexander, the MP for Lewisham East, resigned in the wake of party leader Jeremy Corbyn removing Hilary Benn from the role of shadow foreign secretary. She was elected to parliament in 2015, before being appointed shadow health secretary in September 2015, after Mr Corbyn’s election.
Explaining her decision to resign, she cited her loss of confidence in Labour’s ability to win an election, saying ‘Our county needs an effective opposition which can hold the Government to account and which is capable of developing a credible and inspiring alternative to an increasingly right-wing and backward looking Conservative Party.’