Diane Abbott`s return `with support` as Shadow Home Secretary is official, says Jeremy Corbyn

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed Diane Abbott is back in her role as Shadow Home Secretary. Ms Abbott took a break from the frontbench on the eve of the general election to recover from an illness, which she later revealed to be type 2 diabetes. Mr Corbyn said she is again leading the Home Affairs department for the opposition`s shadow cabinet after recuperating. “Diane suffers from Type 2 diabetes and suffered a great deal during the latter part of the election campaign,” he told ITV’s Peston on Sunday. “I had a chat with her during that period and we felt that it was right that she took a break from intensive campaigning at the national level… “She is getting all the support necessary and she is the Shadow Home Secretary.” Mr Corbyn told Robert Peston he chose not to bring back big names like Home Affairs Select Committee chair Yvette Cooper and Chuka Umunna when he unveiled a limited reshuffle of his Shadow Cabinet after the election. He said he had kept the core of the election team in place because it had “performed absolutely brilliantly during the general election campaign”. Ms Abbott revealed her illness last week, saying it had been “out of control” during the build-up to the election, when she made a series of poorly received television performances. She said: “During the election campaign, everything went crazy – and the diabetes was out of control, the blood sugar was out of control.” The only real surprise in the reshuffle – described as being “remarkable for being unremarkable” – involves Owen Smith making a return to the Shadow Cabinet just a year after challenging Mr Corbyn for the Labour leadership. The MP for Pontypridd has been made Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary.