TWO decades after she became acting Labour leader in the wake of John Smith’s death, Margaret Beckett has once again stepped up to pick up the pieces of a broken party.

Labour trounced the Tories in the European elections when Ms Beckett led the party for three months in 1994 under unexpected and unwanted circumstances. And now the veteran MP has been asked to lead Labour’s investigation into its worst election defeat since 1992.

Labour announced yesterday that Ms Beckett has been appointed as chair of its “learning the lessons from defeat” task force.