New shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti compares Labour Party to 'a war zone'

New shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti has described the Labour Party as a "war zone" and detailed how she received racist hate mail.

Her appointment came as part of Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet reshuffle, which saw party in-fighting continue as Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) leader John Cryer said the Islington North MP had acted in bad faith in talks over the reintroduction of elections for shadow cabinet.

Cryer, the MP for Leyton and Wanstead, said neither he nor sacked chief whip Rosie Winterton were told the shadow cabinet reshuffle was going ahead until it was underway on Wednesday (5 October).

Speaking about her appointment, which was viewed as somewhat controversial given it came just three weeks after her anti-Semitism report into the party was published and following criticism after Corbyn successfully nominated her for a peerage, the Associated Press reported Shakrabarti describing Labour as being in "a civil war".

"I think that I drew criticism the moment I joined the Labour Party. I joined a party in civil war at a time when the country was in crisis," she told Channel 4 News.

"And even if you think you are driving an ambulance into a war zone, you are going to take some flak, and that's what happened. I didn't expect, perhaps, some of the racist hate mail, often laced with misogyny, but I'm not here to whinge.

"I have had a bit of it, but nothing compared to what some young Jewish women MPs have faced. So, I sit here in solidarity with them, and I will continue to do my very best to make this party its better self, and to be a worthy opposition, which is what I think it now can be."