Johnson: Labour can’t get comfortable in opposition

Alan Johnson makes his pitch to become a member of the shadow Cabinet, in a letter to MPs published on the LabourList blog:

“Having enjoyed the privilege of serving for six years in Cabinet and 11 years as a minister I wondered if I should put myself forward given the abundance of talent in the PLP and in particular the many excellent men and women who were brilliant junior ministers but never got the chance to lead a department.

“I am keen to serve and enthusiastic about the tremendous spirit within the PLP. We’ve handled the transition to opposition well. We just don’t want to be there for too long.”