Jeremy Corbyn's long walk of silence as he refuses to answer questions on shadow cabinet

Awkward moment new Labour leader refused to respond to reporters' questions about not appointing women in top roles
Tom Marshall14 September 2015
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This was the awkward moment Jeremy Corbyn silently walked to his car while refusing to answer questions about women in his shadow cabinet.

The new Labour leader was filmed ignoring several journalists who were walking alongside him in the early hours of this morning near Parliament.

The reporters were seeking to speak to him following criticism over a lack of women in top shadow cabinet posts.

Corbyn refused to respond as they peppered him with questions for several minutes.

When he eventually spoke it was only to address an aide, telling him: "There are people bothering me."

Sky News reporter Darren McCaffrey had asked: "How do you face this criticism that there simply are not enough women in senior positions in the shadow cabinet?"

He added: "Why do you just keep walking and not answer the question? Are you just going to keep walking?"

Mr Corbyn has chosen men for the key roles of shadowing the chancellor, home secretary and foreign secretary, with the posts going to John McDonnell, Andy Burnham and Hilary Benn respectively.

However, Heidi Alexander as shadow health secretary and Lucy Powell as shadow education secretary were among six women named to the front bench team so far.

The Conservative government's cabinet has seven women, but Corbyn still has several posts to fill in his shadow cabinet. Seven men have so far been included.

Mr McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has dismissed claims women were snubbed for the top jobs, saying the health and education portfolios are more important than the great offices of state.

He told Sky News: "For most people the real top jobs are the ones that provide the services like health and education, those sorts of things. So he has broken with that tradition and I'm really pleased."

He added: "You can't say that foreign secretary is more important than delivering education to our children, or the health of the people of this population."

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