Chakrabarti joins UK shadow cabinet

LONDON: Expanding the shadow cabinet, newly re-elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Friday appointed prominent human rights barrister Shami Chakrabarti to the

LONDON: Expanding the shadow cabinet, newly re-elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Friday appointed prominent human rights barrister Shami Chakrabarti to the role of shadow attorney-general, taking the number of non-white MPs in his cabinet to a high of five.

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The expansion was supposed to be an attempt to reunite the party after the recent bruising leadership contest, but none of Corbyn’s critics who left his cabinet in recent weeks found a place in the new team.

Chakrabarti is the only Indian-origin member in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.

Accepting the role, Chakrabarti said it was “an enormous privilege...I hope to follow in a great tradition of law officers on both sides of the aisle who have defended rights, freedoms and the rule of law.”

Chakrabarti, 47, is the former director of campaign group Liberty. She was elevated to the House of Lords just a month after she concluded a report into alleged anti-semitism in the Labour party.

Her peerage was criticised by MPs and others who questioned her independence.