Flint gets CLG role in shadow cabinet

Ms Flint had a brief spell as housing minister, between January and October 2008, when her ideas on restricting social tenancies to those committed to seeking work enraged many tenants.

Party leader Ed Miliband has named his full shadow cabinet, which includes Alan Johnson as shadow chancellor, and Douglas Alexander as shadow work and pensions secretary.

John Healey, who has been shadow housing minister since the general election, becomes shadow health secretary. His old boss at the Communities and Local Government department, John Denham, becomes shadow secretary of state for business, innovation and skills.

Mr Healey came second in the ballot of Labour MPs to elect shadow cabinet members, behind Yvette Cooper. Under Labour rules, MPs choose who gets a seat in the shadow cabinet, but the party leader decides who does which job.

Ms Cooper has been given the post of shadow foreign secretary, while her husband, Ed Balls, becomes shadow home secretary.

There is no housing role in the cabinet, mirroring the government set up, which demoted the housing minister post from attending cabinet meetings after the election. Labour sources have tipped Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury, to take on the housing role, although no official announcement has yet been made.

Mr Miliband said:  ‘My team is united in one central mission for the future – to win back the trust of the British people and take Labour back to power.

‘Our values are those of the British people, and this shadow cabinet will ensure that the hopes and concerns of working families are at the heart of our offer to the country.’

The shadow cabinet in full: