Jeremy Corbyn facing open revolt from shadow cabinet after purge of moderate MPs in ‘vindictive’ Labour reshuffle

Jeremy Corbyn is facing an open revolt from his shadow cabinet after mounting a purge of moderate MPs who have criticisised him over Trident, national security and the takeover of the party by the hard-left, report Steven Swinford, Laura Hughes and Ben Riley-Smith.

After two days of deliberations Maria Eagle, who is in favour of Trident, was removed as shadow defence secretary and replaced with Emily Thornberry, an anti-war MP who is sympathetic to Mr Corbyn’s calls to scrap Trident.

Miss Thornberry was previously sacked by Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, for mocking a family who lived in a terraced home for draping an an England flag over their home.

Mr Corbyn was forced to abandon plans to sack Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary who defied him by voting in favour of air strikes in Syria, after being warned he faced mass resignations.

Instead Labour claimed that Mr Benn and Mr Cobyn had reached an agreement that there will be “no repetition” of their public split over the Syria vote.

Mr Corbyn also attracted fury after sacking Pat McFadden, the shadow Europe minister, for “disloyalty” after he criticised his response to the Paris terror attacks. One Labour MP said that the move was “stupid and vindictive”.

Mr Corbyn also sacked Michael Dugher, the shadow culture secretary, a decision which led to open criticism from nine of his front-benchers including Tom Watson, the party’s deputy leader.

Mr Dugher said that he had been sacked by Mr Corbyn for “too much straight talking, honest politics” as he criticised the Labour leader for “squandering” his vision of a “new politics”.

He said: “The real casualty today has been the new politics we were all promised four months ago from Jeremy.

“I think that’s a real shame, a real squandered opportunity, because I think people were attracted by the idea we could unite and come together people of different views, make a virtue of having debates and proper discussions. In Jeremy’s words, even have a little dissent – straight talking, honest politics.”He criticised Emily Thornberry, the shadow work and pensions minister who is tipped for promotion despite being sacked by Ed Miliband for appearing to mock a family’s terraced home draped in England flags. Below are the