I'm in the UK, which also does this.
It means for every role in government, there's a single person whose mandate it is to criticise their policy decisions. Media know exactly who to talk to for a response to policy decisions, and it's training for taking that role after an election victory
It means for every role in government, there's a single person whose mandate it is to criticise their policy decisions. Media know exactly who to talk to for a response to policy decisions, and it's training for taking that role after an election victory
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Say they appoint someone with a medical background as shadow health secretary.
Any time RFK Jr comes out with some absolute nonsense, that person can consistently call it out and say what they would do and why.
When the Home Secretary was Suella Braverman, who is a nutcase, appointing the experienced and much more sensible Yvette Cooper as her shadow made Labour able to seem like the adults
Eg, if I was the newly picked leader of the party currently in opposition, one of my first jobs would be to pick a shadow cabinet from my own party's MP's to shadow the cabinet picked by the governing party.