On The Job: Croydon Central MP Sarah Jones with Met Commissioner Cressida Dick
Sarah Jones, the MP for Croydon Central, will continue as a shadow minister after all, as Sir Keir Starmer, the new leader of the Labour Party, included her in his junior appointments last night.
But Jones is moved from housing policy to the Home Office team under shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds.
There, Jones is given responsibility for policing and the fire service, a significant recognition of the work she has done since 2017 on knife crime, having established the all-party parliamentary group on knife crime.
In the shadow Home Office team, Jones is joined by Jess Phillips, the controversial Birmingham MP who has spent the last five years working against getting a Labour Government elected. Infamously, when accused of betraying previous leader Jeremy Corbyn, Phillips said she would not stab Corbyn in the back. “I’d stab him in the front,” she said.
Watching her back: Jess Phillips
Starmer has given Phillips a role dealing with domestic violence and safeguarding.
For her part, Jones said, “Delighted to have been appointed shadow minister for policing and the fire service by Keir Starmer.
“Tackling knife crime has been a huge priority for me, as has the need for fire safety following the Grenfell Tower fire and it’s great to keep working on these crucial issues.”
And on the covid-19 emergency, Jones added, “I will work with the Government to do everything I can to make sure the police and fire services have the support they need to help us through this crisis. They are the best of us.”
Priti in pink: Chris Philp has a job at the Home Office
Some in parliament had expected Jones to take a job on Starmer’s front bench. Members of Jones’s parliamentary staff had worked on the Starmer leadership campaign’s social media. And Sir Keir had attended a rally for Jones in Croydon during December’s General Election campaign.
But her appointment does mean that all three of Croydon’s MPs have now been appointed to government or opposition jobs.
Croydon North’s Steve Reed made Starmer’s front bench spokesman on local government earlier this week.
And Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South, was “rewarded” for his dogged loyalty to the Tory cause when he was shunted from one parliamentary under-secretary role to another in Boris Johnson’s government’s reshuffle in February, moving to immigration compliance under Priti Patel at the Home Office.
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or what to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and BBC London News
- Inside Croydon named Journalist of the Year at 2018 Anna Kennedy Online Autism Heroes Awards
- ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: For three consecutive years, 2017, 2018 and 2019, Inside Croydon has been the source for award-winning nominations in Private Eye magazine’s annual celebration of civic cock-ups
- Inside Croydon had 1.6million pages viewed by 721,000 unique visitors in 2019
