‘Sleaze buster’ Sir Chris Bryant joins Labour frontbench

Sir Keir Starmer has appointed him as shadow minister for creative industries and digital.

Sir Chris Bryant is joining the Labour frontbench (Andrew Matthews/PA) (PA Wire)

Parliament will need to find a new head for a key sleaze watchdog after Sir Keir Starmer brought Sir Chris Bryant on to his front bench.

The Labour leader appointed the senior MP, who was in Gordon Brown’s government, as shadow minister for creative industries and digital on Wednesday.

Sir Chris tended his resignation from his prominent position as chairman of the Commons Standards Committee, which scrutinises the behaviour of MPs.

Following confirmation of his new job, Sir Chris said he is “delighted” to take on the role, working under shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire and shadow science secretary Peter Kyle, who were both appointed at the start of Sir Keir’s reshuffle.

“Creativity drives the UK’s potential. It creates jobs. It enlivens our imagination. We need to cherish and celebrate it and make it available to all,” Sir Chris wrote on social media.

Commons rules mean the chair of the Standards Committee must come from the Opposition, so his successor will be a Labour MP elected in a secret ballot of the House.

The MP for Rhondda’s return to the front bench is another example of Sir Keir bringing in those with experience from Labour’s last time in government.

In Mr Brown’s administration, Sir Chris served in the Foreign Office, including as Europe minister, having been deputy Commons leader.

He also spent nine months as shadow Commons leader under Jeremy Corbyn, but quit as part of a wave of resignations from the shadow cabinet, saying he feared the then-leader would “go down in history as the man who broke the Labour Party”.

Sir Chris was elected Standards Committee chairman in 2020 when he beat Labour colleague Yvonne Fovargue in a Commons vote.

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow since 2010, indicated she would run for the role she said has “never been more important we get our house in order so that everyone – staff, MPs, voters and visitors alike – can be proud of our Parliament”.

“I will be seeking the support of colleagues to take up that challenge in the months ahead,” she wrote on social media.

Sir Keir began his reshuffle on Monday, promoting centrists at the expense of some MPs on the soft left.

A spokesman for the leader said appointments to the junior ranks would continue on Wednesday.

He denied the Opposition leader was acting ideologically during his reshuffle.

Sir Keir’s spokesman told reporters: “What Keir’s priority has been throughout this reshuffle has been promoting people of competence and commitment into the roles that they have got, not questions of ideology.

“What we want to ensure is that we have got a team that is ready for the campaign and, if we are lucky enough to win the next general election, then we will be ready for government.”