The UK's Opposition Labour party appointed a 47-year-old Indian-origin human rights lawyer, Shami Chakrabarti, as the Shadow Attorney General. She will hold the government's chief legal advisor to account for their actions.

She recently became a Labour member of the House of Lords and also chaired the party's anti-Semitism inquiry. She was confirmed in the new role in a reshuffle of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's top team.

The Attorney General is the UK government's chief legal advisor and is drawn from the legislature; their shadow holds them to account and develops alternative policies.

The Baroness said that, "It is an enormous privilege to take up the post of Shadow Attorney General in Jeremy Corbyn's new team. I hope to follow in a great tradition of law officers on both sides of the aisle who have defended rights, freedoms and the Rule of Law."

Corbyn, re-elected as Labour party leader after overcoming an attempted coup by some members of his party, also promoted long-time ally Dianne Abbot to the post of shadow home secretary.

"I am delighted to confirm the appointments of extremely talented women to our shadow cabinet. These appointments mean, for the first time ever, two out of the three traditional 'great offices of state' will be shadowed by women," Corbyn said.

"We are disappointed, but sadly unsurprised, that once again Shami Chakrabarti and Jeremy Corbyn have spectacularly undermined her so-called 'independent' report. We hoped her report would be a potent weapon in the fight against anti-semitism. It now looks increasingly like the whitewash was a job application. She has sold out the Jewish community," the board's vice-president, Marie van der Zyl, said.

Also Read: Indian-origin teen wins Google Science Fair prize!

Nandini