Corbyn in official complaint about his own MP

A LABOUR MP has insisted he will not be intimidated after an ‘absurd’ complaint was made about him by Jeremy Corbyn’s office.

Neil Coyle had emailed concerns about the party’s Brexit briefings and slow responses to major stories but in response was reported to Labour officials for ‘not raising questions with his line manager’.

The Bermondsey and Old Southwark MP said the ‘insinuation’ was he had been ‘having a go at party staff’, but he accused his leader’s aides of trying to shut down critics. He said: ‘I think it is an absurd situation and I think it is very frustrating that questions my members ask will not be answered by the man responsible.

‘Rather than address the issues I have raised, the knee-jerk reaction is to make accusations about me.’

The row comes after the Tories moved into a 21-point lead over Labour for the first time in nine years, according to a YouGov survey for The Times. Another poll found just 45 per cent of Labour supporters backed Mr Corbyn as the best prime minister for the country in a choice between him and Theresa May. This dropped to 14 per cent among all voters.

Mr Coyle, long-standing critic of Mr Corbyn, said the complaint had been made to avoid the leader’s office having to answer difficult questions and revealed his previous attempts had not received any reply.

He added: ‘I won’t be intimidated. They’re shouting down anyone who dares to raise the tiniest of concerns about losing Copeland or being 20 points behind the Tories in the polls.’

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said Mr Coyle had been reported for ‘consistently abusing’ party staff members.