Labour MPs threaten revolt as Corbynistas seize control of party
‘No interest in toeing the line’
LABOUR MPs last night warned Jeremy Corbyn they will form a breakaway group in the Commons to plot against him unless far-Left activists drop their threat to deselect them.
The Momentum group tightened its grip on the party yesterday after founder Jon Lansman and two allies swept the board in elections for Labour’s ruling body.
The victories mean Mr Corbyn’s supporters have a clear majority on the National Executive Committee (NEC) for the first time, giving them huge power to set the direction of the party and paving the way for reforms that could include a purge of moderate MPs.
Hardline activists have called for Labour to start deselecting sitting MPs not seen as loyal enough to the party leader. Corbyn ally and former journalist Paul Mason yesterday tweeted: ‘Left wins clean sweep in Labour NEC membership elections. Now let’s have mandatory selections of all MP candidates in every parliament.’
But Labour moderates hit back, warning that if they are removed as candidates for the next election, they will simply form their own group in Parliament and become a thorn in the side of the leader. There is no general election expected before 2022, which could leave Mr Corbyn facing years of trouble as former Labour MPs work against him.
One leading Labour MP said: ‘If they push ahead with deselections, the threat will clearly have to be that any one of us who is deselected will sit in the Commons as an independent. There’s no reason to wait it out [in Labour] for years when we disagree with the direction of the party if we’re deselected. We would have no interest in toeing the line.’
Another Labour MP said: ‘They should realise it is not in their interests to deselect us sooner rather than later.’
Mr Lansman, who founded Momentum when it grew out of Mr Corbyn’s first leadership campaign, declared yesterday that his victory meant there was now a ‘21st-century version of the Socialist party I joined 44 years ago’.
He was elected to one of the three new places on the NEC alongside Yasmine Dar and Rachel Garnham. He admitted at the weekend that some of the party’s MPs felt ‘unsettled’, but added: ‘There’s no reason for any hard-working MP who campaigns hard with their constituents and the members of their local party to feel nervous about anything.’
A Labour review into party democracy is set to examine whether MPs should face a mandatory reselection by party members and local affiliates, which include trade union branches.
Labour MP Emma Reynolds yesterday warned that mandatory reselections would create ‘bitterness and division’.
She told the BBC’s Daily Politics: ‘I disagree with Jon Lansman and I disagree with anyone who is calling for mandatory reselection of MPs.
‘We should be focused on taking the fight to the Tories rather than introducing things which will only create division and bitterness.
‘I hope the review that’s going on will not conclude that we need reselection because I think that would be very bad for the unity of purpose that has been created during the election campaign and since.’
Stephanie Lloyd, deputy director of the moderate campaign group Progress, said: ‘We need to replace Tory MPs, not deselect hard-working Labour MPs we already have.’
Tory Party deputy chairman James Cleverly said: ‘The election of Jon Lansman and his comrades to Labour’s ruling body confirms the hard Left has well and truly consolidated its grip over the Labour Party.’