Miliband handsChief Whip'sjob to Yorkshire'neighbour'

ROSIE Winterton’s installation as Labour's Chief Whip will be part of a remarkable dominance of the party by Yorkshire politicians.

The Doncaster Central MP will act as enforcer to leader Ed Miliband – a neighbouring MP in the South Yorkshire town – after he asked the current occupant Nick Brown to step aside to restore party unity.

And another seven MPs from the region are bidding for one of 19 other places in the Shadow Cabinet, where they will be on the ballot with 42 other candidates as MPs vote.

Defeated leadership contender Ed Balls, the Morley and Outwood MP, and wife Yvette Cooper, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, are both expected to get considerable backing and win top jobs, while former Ministers Alan Johnson and Hilary Benn are also likely to be elected.

Former Europe Minister Caroline Flint, the Don Valley MP, Wakefield’s Mary Creagh and Shadow Housing Minister John Healey, the Wentworth MP, are also competing to join Mr Miliband’s top team.

If all are successful, it would leave nine MPs from Yorkshire and the Humber at the top of the Labour Party including the first MP from the region to lead the party since Hugh Gaitskell nearly 50 years ago.

Other challengers range from established cabinet ministers like Andy Burnham and John Denham to former ministers and rank outsiders like defeated leadership candidate Diane Abbott. Several veterans including Jack Straw, Alistair Darling and now David Miliband are standing down.

Ms Winterton's election unopposed as Chief Whip is a significant move, and came after Gordon Brown’s former enforcer Nick Brown withdrew from the running after a meeting with Mr Miliband when he told him he wanted a “fresh start”.

MPs supportive of David Miliband had been concerned about the prospect of Mr Brown keeping the job and suggested Ed Miliband should find an alternative to show he would live up to his pledge of uniting the party.

Ms Winterton was one of the “Blair Babes” elected for the first time in 1997 and rose up through the ministerial ranks to become Shadow Leader of the Commons after the General Election. In Government, she was also Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber.

As Chief Whip, she will be responsible for ensuring the discipline of MPs and that Mr Miliband gets his way within the parliamentary party.

She said: “I'm extremely pleased that as the new Chief Whip I will be working closely with our new leader, Ed Miliband, the new Shadow Cabinet and the Parliamentary Labour Party to help return Labour to Government.”

Mr Balls and Ms Cooper are both tipped as possible Shadow Chancellors, with Shadow Schools Secretary Mr Balls devoting part of his conference speech yesterday to an attack on the coalition’s plans to reduce the deficit.

Shadow Home Secretary Mr Johnson, MP for Hull West and Hessle, and Shadow Environment Secretary and Leeds Central MP Mr Benn, who will make his conference speech today, are also tipped for senior jobs if they get into Mr Miliband's top team, while Mr Healey – popular among his colleagues – could also be rewarded for his performance in pushing the need to build more affordable homes.

Ms Flint can expect to benefit from new rules that mean at least six of the 19 posts must go to women. She dramatically quit the Government after last year’s local election disaster for Labour, denouncing the Prime Minister for treating women like “window dressing”.

Ms Creagh’s chances are also increased by the quota, with 14 women standing for election. She has been a Labour whip.

Voting takes place between October 4 and 7.