Leader of Britain's divided Labour Party fires party rebels

The role of an opposition should be to challenge the government, but Britain's Labour Party has begun the new year at war with itself as leader Jeremy Corbyn struggles to assert his authority over restive lawmakers.
The veteran left-winger was the surprise winner of Labour's leadership election last year, strongly supported by the party's membership but opposed by most Labour lawmakers.
He has clashed with centrist Labour legislators over issues including his opposition to nuclear weapons and to British airstrikes on IS targets in Syria.
Early today, Corbyn moved defense spokeswoman Maria Eagle, who opposed him on nuclear weapons, to another post, and fired two other members of his top team who had criticised him.

Legislator Jonathan Reynolds later resigned as Labour's railway spokesman, saying he wanted to be able to speak out free of the constraints imposed on the party's official spokespeople.
Corbyn's changes dubbed a "revenge reshuffle" in the press were announced after two days of closed-door meetings, and were more limited than many had anticipated.

Corbyn did not move foreign policy spokesman Hilary Benn, who publicly opposed his leader during a House of Commons debate on Syria airstrikes last month. While Corbyn opposed the strikes as "reckless," Benn argued Britain should play its part in defeating Islamic State group "fascists."
More resignations could follow as Labour struggles to remain united. Corbyn has promised a new style of politics to re-energise a party that has lost two consecutive elections to prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives, most recently in May.

But many Labour lawmakers see his leadership style as ineffectual, his policies as out of touch with voters' views and his commitment to party reform as hollow.
One of those who was fired in the reshuffle, former culture spokesman Michael Dugher, changed his Twitter biography to read "sacked by Jeremy Corbyn for too much straight talking, honest politics" an ironic reworking of Corbyn's own campaign slogan.