Jeremy Corbyn is in the midst of yet another shadow cabinet reshuffle.

In a bold opening move, Corbyn sacked chief whip of six years Rosie Winterton and replaced her with Nick Brown, who twice served as chief whip under former Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Corbyn’s decision to get rid of Winterton – who is widely respected among the Labour MPs – is likely an attempt to re-establish his authority after overcoming a coup to win the recent leadership contest.

Reacting to the news, a Labour MP told Business Insider: “It seems personal matters are more important than saving the party. And yet another woman lost to make way for a man.”

Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Corbyn said: “I welcome Nick’s agreement to serve as chief whip to the parliamentary Labour party. I would like to pay tribute to Rosie Winterton for her six years’ exceptional service as chief whip. She has played an outstanding role in her support for me as leader and the Labour party as a whole.”

Brown said: "I hope that I can bring experience and play a constructive role in providing the strongest possible opposition to this Tory Government."

Meanwhile, Diane Abbott, a close ally of Corbyn, has been appointed shadow home secretary. Other appointments include:

    Baroness Shami Chakrabarti is now shadow attorney general. Sarah Champion is shadow women and equalities minister. Jo Stevens has been appointed shadow secretary of state for Wales Dawn Butler hs been appointed to shadow minister for black and ethnic minority communities.

The changes mean Corbyn now has the largest ever number of BME members of any cabinet or shadow cabinet.

Here is what the Labour leader tweeted about the appointments:

However, the reshuffle has come under fire from a number of Labour MPs that consider Corbyn's move to axe people like Winterton as purely as a means of punishment for not fully supporting him:

https://twitter.com/TomBlenkinsop/status/784080234077380610

Winterton was recently named as on the leaked list from Labour headquarters of the party's politicians that were considered "hostile" by the Corbyn camp.