Paul Flynn dropped from shadow cabinet

Jeremy Corbyn has completed his shadow cabinet reshuffle, in the process dropping Paul Flynn. The Newport West MP took on the role of Shadow Leader of the House of Commons at the end of June, when Rhondda MP Chris Bryant resigned from the post in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

Days later, he was also made Shadow Welsh Secretary, after Llanelli MP Nia Griffith quit. Although he's 81, Mr Flynn likes to say that after 29 years as an MP, he's at the mid-point of his career in the House of Commons. He certainly took to the front bench with gusto.

His unexpected promotion also gave him the chance to address the Labour party conference for the first time since 1981. But in his speech in Liverpool, Mr Flynn possibly acknowledged that he might not be asked to carry on when Jeremy Corbyn reshuffled the shadow cabinet, as he urged those who had resigned to return.

Pontypridd MP Owen Smith, who resigned as Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary to challenge Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership, ruled out returning to the front bench. So did Chris Bryant. Nia Griffith has returned to the shadow cabinet but has accepted the role of Shadow Defence Secretary, with Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens becoming Shadow Welsh Secretary. The job of Shadow Leader of the House of Commons has gone to the Walsall MP Valerie Vaz.

Nia Griffith has taken on a particularly tricky role. Like Jeremy Corbyn, she supports unilateral nuclear disarmament but Labour party policy remains that Britain should only give up its nuclear weapons if other countries do so as well.

That's been the position since Labour abandoned unilateralism under Neil Kinnock's leadership but not before the bitter arguments in the party had led to the resignation from the shadow cabinet of Denzil Davies. Coincidentally, he too was MP for Llanelli, a former Shadow Welsh Secretary promoted to Shadow Defence Secretary at a time when disagreements about nuclear weapons were at the heart of Labour's internal conflicts.