Revealed, Corbyn plot to oust moderate Labour MPs

JEREMY Corbyn plans to make it easier to oust moderate MPs who oppose his leadership, one of his close allies has claimed.

Momentum founder Jon Lansman was secretly recorded saying said the Labour leader wants to overhaul party rules to lower the threshold for deselection.

Mr Lansman, who helped run Mr Corbyn’s leadership campaign, made the claims at a meeting in London on March 26. Many moderate MPs have been bombarded with abuse and threats of deselection from Corbyn supporters. Mr Lansman told the meeting the move was ‘more about accountability than deselections’.

In the covert recording, obtained by the Daily Mirror, he also claimed that Mr Corbyn supports moves to sideline the unions by opening up such votes to all the members rather than handing the decision to the branch’s union affiliate.

Under current rules, if 50 per cent of local branches and union affiliates agree to readopt an MP they are reselected as a candidate. But if more than half vote against automatic reselction, it triggers a ballot at which new candidates can stand. Under the proposed overhaul, incumbent MPs would need the backing of two-thirds of branches to avoid a ballot.

A Labour spokesman said: ‘Jeremy hasn’t expressed any intention, or taken any position, on changes to the rule book relating to trigger ballots.’