Cracks in the Labour party continue to deepen after the chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) said he was not informed about leader Jeremy Corbyn's cabinet reshuffle.
In a letter to MPs, John Cryer said he was also not aware that Corbyn intended to sack chief whip Rosie Winterton.
In early September it was proposed that the shadow cabinet would be subject to an element of democratic selection by the PLP in an attempt to heal rifts between pro and anti-Corbyn factions of the party. Cryer said PLP members had voted "overwhelmingly" in favour of this revision.
"This led to negotiations involving myself and the then chief whip, Rosie Winterton, and people from the leadership team," he wrote.
"As far as Rosie and I were concerned, the talks were held in good faith with the aim of striking an agreement which would allow some places to be filled through elections while the leader would retain the right to appoint others."
Cryer said that this week's reshuffle, which "had not been discussed or mentioned," to him demonstrated that "the party's leadership did not engage in the talks in any constructive way".
"Obviously, I deeply regret this turn of events," Cryer added.
Corbyn began reshuffling his shadow cabinet on Wednesday following his victory in the Labour leadership election, promoting Diane Abbott to the position of shadow home secretary.
The Labour leader also appointed Shami Chakrabarti, the former director of Liberty, as shadow attorney general. Baroness Chakrabarti joined the party this summer after conducting an independent inquiry into anti-Semitism in the party and was swiftly elevated to the House of Lords.
Corbyn had promised to hold out an "olive branch" to MPs who opposed him during this summer's leadership contest but the initial appointments suggest he is using his dominant position within the party to promote allies and secure his power base.
Many of the Labour MPs who stepped up to shadow cabinet jobs when their predecessors resigned during the post-referendum Labour coup remained in their jobs.
Clive Lewis, who recently clashed with the Labour leader's office over the policy on replacing the Trident nuclear deterrent, has been moved from shadow defence secretary to business.
His replacement at defence is Nia Griffith, the Welsh MP who resigned in protest at Corbyn's leadership earlier this summer. She is a staunch opponent of the Trident system and supports unilateral disarmament of the UK's nuclear weapons.
Griffith told Radio 4's Today programme it was time for anti-Corbyn MPs to give the leader another chance: "I was one of the senior people in Owen Smith’s leadership campaign, and he’s offered me a post on the shadow cabinet.
"Jeremy has admitted he’s made mistakes and he will try and do things differently – I think we ought to give him that opportunity."
Chakrabati welcomed her own swift elevation and said she hopes to "follow in a great tradition of law officers on both sides of the aisle who have defended rights, freedoms and the Rule of Law".
The reshuffle began with the surprise sacking of chief whip Winterton late on Thursday afternoon. She was replaced by Nick Brown, the former Labour chief whip under Gordon Brown, who is not thought to be a Corbyn supporter.
“I welcome Nick’s agreement to serve as chief whip to the parliamentary Labour party," the Labour leader said in a statement. "I would like to pay tribute to Rosie Winterton for her six years’ exceptional service as Chief Whip. She has played an outstanding role in her support for me as leader and for the Labour Party as a whole."
Other appointments include Sarah Champion, who resigned as a shadow home office minister during the anti-Corbyn coup but now returns as shadow women and equalities minister.
Corbynsceptic MP Keir Starmer was announced as the new shadow Brexit secretary, Jo Stevens is shadow Welsh secretary, and Dawn Butler will be shadow minister for diverse communities.
Jonathan Reynolds, previously known as an anti-Corbyn MP, will serve as shadow economic secretary to the Treasury.
Jonathan Ashworth has been appointed shadow health secretary and John Healey has returned to the position of shadow housing secretary, which he last held in 2010.
Ashworth tweeted: "The NHS was and still is Labour's greatest achievement [...] We'll be campaigning hard."
In spite of the reshuffle, Corbyn's team has not fully ruled out the prospect of allowing the PLP to vote on front bench positions. "Shadow cabinet elections will be considered by Labour's national executive committee as part of a wider party democratisation at a special meeting next month," a spokesperson said.
