Corbyn ‘is facing a sof t coup’ by rebel Labour MPs
JEREMY Corbyn is facing a behind-the-scenes ‘soft coup’ from Labour MPs who want to destroy him, one of his closest allies claims. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said ‘covert plotters’ want to stop the leader from winning elections even if this means losing their seats and risking the end of the party.
In an article for the Labour Briefing website, he claimed Labour MPs were using the ‘dark arts’ to secretly brief against Mr Corbyn in the press, saying: ‘We have to alert party members and supporters that the soft coup is under way.
‘The aim of these covert coup plotters is to undermine the support Jeremy has secured among Labour Party members, and also importantly to undermine support from Labour voters.
‘Undermining support for Jeremy from Labour voters is important to the plotters because their objective is to ensure Jeremy trails in the polls and can’t win elections.’ Mr McDonnell last night distanced himself from his own article, while his shadow cabinet colleague Barry Gardiner suggested he had been ‘on the late night typewriter’ and written the piece ‘out of frustration’.
Mr Corbyn yesterday avoided facing his own MPs following the worst by-election defeat for an opposition party since 1945 after they lost in Copeland last week.
He chose not to attend the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Diane Abbott and Baroness Chakrabarti were also missing from the gathering and were instead photographed in a Commons bar.
Earlier in the day Mr Corbyn had brushed off suggestions of a coup as he welcomed Labour’s new MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central. ‘I am very happy, we are going forward. Policies will be coming out, campaigns are going on,’ he said.
In his article, Mr McDonnell claimed the unnamed coup plotters were ‘willing to sacrifice the party at elections just to topple Jeremy and prevent a socialist leading the party.
‘It is more important to them that they regain control of the party than it is to win elections.’
A spokesman for Mr McDonnell said: ‘John wants us all to focus on party unity following last week’s by-election results.’
Clive Lewis, a former close ally of Mr Corbyn who resigned from the shadow cabinet over the Article 50 vote, has denied secretly registering internet addresses linked to a potential leadership bid.
The Norwich South MP said neither he nor anyone working for him had registered domain names including cliveforleader.org.uk shortly after he joined the shadow cabinet last summer.
‘Endangering the party’s existence’