Shadow Cabinet

The frontbench of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom consists of the Shadow Cabinet and other official shadow ministers of the political party currently serving as the Official Opposition. Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition is currently the Labour Party, and the Leader of the Opposition is Ed Miliband. Miliband reshuffled the Shadow Cabinet on 7 October 2013.

Key

	Shadow Minister in the House of Commons
	Shadow Minister in the House of Lords
Shadow Cabinet members and attendees in bold

The Shadow Cabinet is a feature of the Westminster system of government. It comprises a senior group of opposition spokespeople who, under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition, form an alternative cabinet to that of the government, and whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the Cabinet.^[1] Members of a shadow cabinet are often but not always appointed to a Cabinet post if and when their party gets into government. It is the Shadow Cabinet's responsibility to criticize the policies and actions of the government, as well as offering an alternative program.

In most countries, a member of the shadow cabinet is referred to as a Shadow Minister. In Canada, however, the term Opposition Critic is more usual. In the United Kingdom's House of Lords and in New Zealand, the term "spokesperson" is used instead of "shadow".^[1]

Cultural applications

In the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand the major opposition party and specifically its shadow cabinet is called His or Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.^[2] The adjective "loyal" is used because, while the role of the opposition is to oppose Her Majesty's Government, it does not dispute the sovereign's right to the throne and therefore the legitimacy of the government. However, in other countries that use the Westminster system (for example, New Zealand), the opposition is known simply as The Parliamentary Opposition.^[3]

Some parliamentary parties, notably the Australian Labor Party, elect all the members of their shadow cabinets in a party room ballot, with the Leader of the Opposition then allocating portfolios to the Shadow Ministers.^[4] In other parliamentary parties, the membership and composition of the Shadow Cabinet is generally determined solely by the Leader of the Opposition.

In many jurisdictions, third parties (which are neither participant in the government nor in the official opposition) may also form their own parliamentary front benches of spokespersons; however, parliamentary standing orders on the right of parties to speak often dictate that it can only be granted to a party or group if a minimum number of members can be recorded by the party. In Ireland, for example, technical groups are often formed by third parties and independent TDs in the Dáil Éireann in order to increase the members' right to speak against larger parties which can afford the right to speak as Front Benches in Government or Opposition.^[5][6]

While the practice of a parliamentary shadow cabinets or frontbenches is not widespread in Germany, party leaders have often formed boards of experts and advisors ("teams of experts", or Kompetenzteam, in CDU/CSU and SPD parlance; alternate "top team", or Spitzenteam, in Alliance '90/The Greens parlance).

List of Shadow Cabinets

Australia

• Shadow Cabinet of Australia (Australian Labor Party) (Bill Shorten)

New South Wales

• New South Wales Shadow Cabinet (Australian Labor Party) (John Robertson)

The Bahamas

• Shadow Cabinet (Progressive Liberal Party) (Perry Christie)

Canada

• Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet of the 41st Parliament of Canada (New Democratic Party) (Thomas Mulcair)

Ontario

• Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet of the 41st Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario) (Jim Wilson)

France

• Contre-gouvernement (counter-government), dubbed by the media "cabinet fantôme" (literally : ghost cabinet). (Union for a Popular Movement) (Nicolas Sarkozy)

Ireland

• Opposition Front Bench (Ireland) (Fianna Fáil) (Micheál Martin)

Israel

• Shadow government (Israel) (Kadima) (Tzipi Livni)

Italy

• Shadow Cabinet of Italy (Governo ombra) (Walter Veltroni)

Japan

• Democratic Party of Japan (Banri Kaieda)

Lithuania

• Shadow Cabinet of Lithuania (Šešėlinis kabinetas) (Andrius Kubilius).^[7]

Malaysia

• Frontbench Committees (Pakatan Rakyat) (Anwar Ibrahim)

New Zealand

• Official Opposition (New Zealand) (New Zealand Labour Party) (David Cunliffe)

• Frontbench Team of Phil Goff
• Frontbench Team of David Shearer
• Frontbench Team of David Cunliffe

Romania

• Shadow Cabinet (Romanian: Cabinetul din umbră)

Solomon Islands

• Shadow Cabinet of Solomon Islands (Democratic Party and allies)

South Africa

• Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (South Africa) (Democratic Alliance) (Mmusi Maimane)

Thailand

• Shadow Cabinet (Democrat Party) (Abhisit Vejjajiva)

Ukraine

• Shadow Government (Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk)

United Kingdom

• Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom) (Labour) (Ed Miliband)

Scotland

• Shadow Cabinet (Scottish Parliament) (Scottish Labour Party) (Johann Lamont)

Wales

• Official Shadow Cabinet (National Assembly for Wales) (Welsh Conservative Party) (Andrew RT Davies)

See also

• Shadow government (disambiguation)
• Minority leader

References