Owen Smith says Jeremy Corbyn would get a job in his shadow cabinet

The leadership challenger struck a conciliatory tone

Jeremy Corbyn would “absolutely” be invited to serve in Owen Smith’s shadow cabinet, the leadership challenger has said.

Mr Smith, who served on Mr Corbyn’s front bench until he resigned and stood against him in a leadership contest, struck a conciliatory tone on Monday night.

Keenly aware that he would have to win over Labour members who had voted for Mr Corbyn last year, Mr Smith thanked the sitting leader for moving the party in the right direction.

“I think Jeremy could absolutely do a job in the shadow cabinet for me. I want to heal the Labour party,” he told the BBC’s Newsnight programme.

“I think Jeremy Corbyn is to be thanked for having helped Labour stopped being so timid, rediscover some of his radicalism.

“But we need to go beyond just sloganising about this – we’ve got to have hard solutions; we’ve got to have practical solutions. We are practical socialists in the Labour party, not debaters.”

His offer comes after a previous offer in which he suggested Mr Corbyn could become a ceremonial figurehead of the Labour party. That offer was rejected by Mr Corbyn.

The proposals are odd because Mr Smith has previously been highly critical of Mr Corbyn, describing his political approach as 'just hot air' and questioning whether he is patriotic.

Mr Corbyn is today being represented in the High Court, defending a suit that could overturn the decision to include him on the leadership ballot paper.

He and Mr Smith will go head-to-head in their first hustings on Thursday 4 August in front of an audience in Cardiff.