There were lurid prophesies about a revenge reshuffle which were clearly exaggerated and, as is his style, the Labour leader took his time sounding out and deciding. In the end the changes were a refinement of the previous line up, not a root and branch reconstruction. The Tories had their usual laugh and loads of hostile briefings were put about by anti-Corbyn Labour MPs. One of the arguments was that because Corbyn was himself a serial rebel, he must tolerate rebellion in his team. That argument is plain silly.
Corbyn was indeed a serial rebel over three decades, but from the back benches. He was never in the shadow cabinet. He was a rebel, but now he is the Leader with a huge mandate and swelling membership, he is the main stream. Those who are opposed to his policies are the rebels and can rebel all they like, but , like the Leader they love to hate, from the back benches. A few, having had a bit of a telling off, remain in the shadow cabinet for now, but if they go on briefing and muttering against the party’s choice of leader, not for long. Post May elections at the latest.
One of the reasons Benn survived was the fact, now plain, that the bomb Syria vote was militarily pointless. There have been fewer than a handful of RAF sorties, with little practical effect and far short of the military impact those emotional Commons speeches wound everybody up to expect. So Benn gained acclamation opposing his leader and supporting the government at the price of an error of judgement. For an opposition politician that is not, in the long run, good.