ANNELIESE Dodds has been sacked as shadow chancellor by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tonight. 

The Oxford East MP has been relegated to party chairman in a reshuffle which saw Leeds MP Rachel Reeves promoted to the top role. 

Oxford Mail: Rachel Reeves (Jonathan Brady/PA)Rachel Reeves (Jonathan Brady/PA)

The shakeup follows the party's poor performance in Thursday's local elections. 

Sir Keir said: “The Labour Party must be the party that embraces the demand for change across our country.

“That will require bold ideas and a relentless focus on the priorities of the British people.

“Just as the pandemic has changed what is possible and what is necessary, so Labour must change too.”

Anneliese Dodds

Labour MP for Oxford East since June 2017, Ms Dodds was an MEP for South East England for four years before taking her seat on the opposition benches.

A year after her election, she was made shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, before receiving her promotion to the shadow front bench in April last year.

A mother of two young children, 43-year-old Ms Dodds’ media skills were put to the test just days into her role as shadow chancellor, when her daughter burst in during an interview with Sky News.

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“I thought she was going to stay asleep, sorry… so embarrassing,” Ms Dodds said when asked about the moment at the interview’s close.

“She’s thankfully under the chair now.”

Ms Dodds has now been relegated to the role of party chairman and chair of Labour Policy Review.

Before politics, Aberdeen-born Ms Dodds worked as an academic and it is thought her research focused on public policy and risk in different industries, sectors and nations.

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