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Leftists waiting in the wings

(See Li/Corbis)
(See Li/Corbis)

If Jeremy Corbyn becomes Labour leader, a coterie of left-wingers and advisers is expected to be given key positions in the leader’s office. In the Commons he will bring some new, radical voices into frontbench roles.

So who are the contenders?

ALAN SIMPSON

A former Labour MP who built an eco-home from recycled cardboard, straw and old glass bottles, Simpson is a central figure in Corbyn’s kitchen cabinet and is set for a key advisory role if he wins.

Simpson, who stood down from parliament in 2010, is the architect of Corbyn's radical energy policy, which will see Britain looking to California and Germany for green energy models, a ban on fracking and the phasing out of nuclear power. He is a former Friends of the Earth adviser and was a long-standing member of the House of Commons environment committee.

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CLIVE LEWIS

The new MP for Norwich South, Lewis is young and fiery. He is a former army reservist who served in Afghanistan and also worked as a BBC journalist. A self-proclaimed “proud socialist”, he opposes Trident renewal and believes immigration has a “moral dimension”.

He announced that new Labour was “dead and buried” after winning his seat in May, but was embroiled in controversy during the campaign when he joked he would only fail to win his seat if found with his “pants down behind a goat with Ed Miliband at the other end”.

JOHN McDONNELL

John McDonnell (Lynda Bowyer/Corbis)
John McDonnell (Lynda Bowyer/Corbis)

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The veteran MP for Hayes and Harlington, who is running Corbyn’s campaign, is guaranteed a frontbench role. The son of a bus driver, he was a prominent opponent of the Iraq War and has campaigned vociferously against a Heathrow third runway. He was once suspended from parliament for picking up the Commons mace and placing it on an empty bench in protest at the lack of a vote on the runway.

JON TRICKETT

A former parliamentary private secretary to Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson, he is a veteran parliamentary operator who was behind the Labour rebellion against the Iraq War. He also campaigned against Trident renewal. He was a shadow minister under Ed Miliband.

RICHARD BURGON

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The young MP for Leeds East is a Cambridge-educated trades union lawyer and the first in his family to go to university. The nephew of a Labour MP, when he took the MPs’ oath he prefaced his remarks by stating “the head of state should be elected”.

KATE OSAMOR

Kate Osamor
Kate Osamor

The new MP for Edmonton is a former doctor’s practice manager who did a degree at the University of East London in third world studies. She worked for The Big Issue magazine, and is likely to be Corbyn’s spokeswoman on race and equality.

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DIANE ABBOTT

The outspoken Labour MP is expected to have a key frontbench position, possibly health. Combining a career as a TV pundit with politics, she ran for the Labour leadership unsuccessfully in 2010. Cambridge educated and at home in the spotlight, she will undoubtedly be sent out to bat for Corbyn on the airwaves when the going, inevitably, gets tough.

MICHAEL MEACHER

A veteran left-wing MP first elected in 1970, who served in the Wilson, Callaghan and Blair governments and is expected to make a political comeback under Corbyn. He is known for his grasp of detail and has been a thorny critic of Osborne economics and austerity. Expected to be given a spokesmanship on a complex brief, though not housing — he was once criticised for the number of houses he and his wife own.