Former Labour chief whip Rosie Winterton claims victory in deputy speaker bid
2 min read
A former Labour chief whip who was sacked by Jeremy Corbyn was today elected a deputy speaker of the House of Commons.
Dame Rosie Winterton - who PoliticsHome revealed was in the running - was elected the ‘second deputy chair of ways and means’, which is effectively the third in command in the deputy speaker team.
Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle was re-elected as deputy speaker after serving in the role since 2010.
And Tory Eleanor Laing was voted in as the ‘first deputy chair of ways and means’ - effectively second in command in the deputy speaker team.
Announcing the results this afternoon, Commons speaker John Bercow said: “I congratulate all three colleagues who have been elected and I greatly look forward to working with them.”
Dame Rosie succeeds Natascha Engel in the role, who lost her seat to the Tories at the election.
It marks a major turnaround in fortunes for the Doncaster Central MP, who was ditched by Mr Corbyn last October.
The Labour leader said at the time: "I would like to pay tribute to Rosie Winterton for her six years’ exceptional service as chief whip. She has played an outstanding role in her support for me as leader and for the Labour party as a whole."
She said: "It has been an honour to have served as Labour’s chief whip for the past six years under three different leaders. I would like to thank the whips and the Parliamentary Labour Party for the support they have given me."
But PoliticsHome revealed that Ms Winterton was actually sacked when she turned up at a meeting to discuss the possible return of Shadow Cabinet elections.
A Labour source said: "The whips are apoplectic. It's a complete betrayal of their work and of Rosie. Corbyn has effectively sacked the PLP's negotiator. She went up there to meet him for a scheduled meeting about Shadow Cabinet elections and he sacked her.
"It just shows that all the talk about unity was a sham."
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