Today's UPdate From The Waugh Zone Is Titled "COSTUME CHANGE FOR MR BENN?"

* Paul Waugh

by Paul WAUGH | Politics

All the talk of a ‘revenge reshuffle’ certainly ramped up over the Christmas break, with two successive Sundays (including Tom McTague at the Indy on Sunday making his impressive mark) full of chatter about demotion for Hilary Benn. But how much has the chatter come from Jeremy Corbyn himself and how much from those around him?

During my own interview with the Labour leader just before the break, he was supremely relaxed. But the one moment he showed a real flash of steel was on the topic of the Syria vote. “What I was appalled by was the end of that debate, with mainly Conservative MPs waving their order papers around, clapping and cheering…We were voting to send bombers in to bomb targets, putting servicemen and women at risk, civilians at risk, you can’t cheer when you’re going to war. That is 1914 Jingoism, that is past.” That this was a reference to Benn’s speech was all too clear.

The real issue now is how far Corbyn’s desire for ‘genuine debate’ on policy extends to his Shadow Cabinet. Benn has been among those arguing that debate is a good thing, while Michael Dugher made plain yesterday on Pienaar that a ‘revenge reshuffle’ could reduce the Shad Cab to a ‘politburo’ of about seven MPs. But some Corbyn supporters agree with Jon Cruddas that you have to have a unified message on big issues like foreign policy.

The Times reports that a job-swap for Benn and Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham has been discussed. I’m told that Benn hasn’t directly discussed this, though it is seen as an elegant solution to the problem of keeping him without demoting him. However, as the FT reports, those close to the leader are already dismissing the idea of a job swap. 

The reshuffle could be more limited than some speculation suggested, not least as Angela Eagle could be sorely tempted to quit if her sister Maria is axed from Defence. The threat to Rosie Winterton seems to have receded. And the FT has an intriguing line that John McDonnell has been counselling that Eagle is not humiliated in any reshuffle.

Pat McFadden, a veteran of the Blair and Brown years and Benn’s deputy in Shadow Foreign, suspected the speculation had been ‘overbriefed’ while Corbyn was on holiday. But he had a telling line on Radio 4’s Westminster Hour last night, warning that for the Leader there was ‘a danger for him’ in taking revenge over a one-line whip on a free vote on Syria. Major sackings would be ‘divisive’ and ‘that’s a risk for him’. Let’s see who wins the battle for Jeremy’s ear.

* Paul Waugh is the Executive Editor, Politics, HuffPost UK.