Shadow Cabinet elections

Here, in alphabetical order of surname, are the nineteen Labour MPs who have been elected to be appointed by party leader Ed Miliband to vacant posts within his Shadow Cabinet (six posts are already filled, including the Shadow Leader himself, hence just the 19 vacancies):

• Douglas Alexander
• Ed Balls
• Hilary Benn
• Andy Burnham
• Liam Byrne
• Yvette Cooper
• Mary Creagh
• John Denham
• Angela Eagle
• Maria Eagle
• Caroline Flint
• John Healey
• Meg Hillier
• Alan Johnson
• Tessa Jowell
• Sadiq Khan
• Ivan Lewis
• Ann McKechin
• Jim Murphy

 Nothing very exciting there, though it is interesting to see the return of Caroline Flint to the front bench, also that all surnames begin with a letter from the first half of the alphabet - there are no N's to Z's at all. The eagle-eyed (ahem!) will also have noticed two Eagle's: perhaps they are "high fliers" in the party? They are twins, I understand. Well, at least it's consistent with the Miliband brothers and Mr & Mrs Balls - just keeping it in the family!

It is notable that all of those in the list were on the former Labour government's payroll (eighteen ministers and a whip), so there isn't exactly anything of Ed Miliband's so-called - and oft-stated in his conference speech - "new generation" about any of them.

As the Telegraph's Toby Young mentions, they are all white apart from Sadiq Khan, apparently nearly half are Oxford or Cambridge educated, and only a minority of them went to comprehensive schools.

Guido reports that Jack Straw has his own "interesting" views on the (Shadow) Labour Cabinet in general.

UPDATE: We now know who has been appointed to which post, as well as the six incumbents, as follows:

• Leader of the Opposition     Rt. Hon. Ed Miliband MP
• Deputy Leader and Shadow Secretary of State for International Development     Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP
• Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer     Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Minister for Women and Equalities     Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department     Rt Hon Ed Balls MP
• Chief Whip     Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Election Coordinator     Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP
• Shadow Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice (with responsibility for political and constitutional reform)     Rt Hon Sadiq Khan MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions     Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills     Rt Hon John Denham MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Health     Rt Hon John Healey MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government     Rt Hon Caroline Flint MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Defence     Rt Hon Jim Murphy
• Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change     Meg Hillier MP
• Shadow Leader of the House of Commons     Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Transport     Maria Eagle MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs     Mary Creagh MP
• Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury     Angela Eagle MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for orthern Ireland     Rt Hon Shaun Woodward MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland     Ann McKechin MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Wales     Rt Hon Peter Hain MP
• Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport     Ivan Lewis MP
• Shadow Leader of the House of Lords     Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
• Shadow Minister for the Olympics     Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP
• Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office     Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP
• Lords Chief Whip     Lord Bassam of Brighton
• Shadow Attorney-General     Baroness Scotland

There are some interesting choices in who is to face whom across the Dispatch Box, such as Alan Johnson to face George Osborne, Yvette Cooper (also taking over Women and Equalities from Harriet Harman, note!) to face William Hague, Sadiq Khan opposite Ken Clarke, Ed Balls against Theresa May (Balls is the stronger but loses out by not having Ms May's taste in shoes), Andy Burnham shadowing Michael Gove, and Caroline Flint taking on the might of Eric Pickles.

Even David Jones MP is pleased (I think!) at the news of Peter Hain's appointment.

It looks like interesting times lie ahead!