Death threats after ‘plot to wreck Corbyn’
Party staff ‘tried for Tory victory’
LABOUR Party HQ staff have received death threats after accusations they worked secretly for a Tory election victory.
The charge comes in a leaked internal report which claims senior campaign managers were part of a clandestine group conspiring to prevent Jeremy Corbyn becoming PM.
It accuses the group of racist and sexist language, anti-semitism and of diverting election funds away from winnable seats to those held by the then-leader’s staunch opponents.
Private email and phone conversations are detailed in the run-up to the 2017 election. One staffer, responding to Mr Corbyn’s surprise surge in the polls, is reported saying: “Opposite to what I had been working towards...”
To avoid detection, the members of the group are said to have met secretly away from party HQ at Ergon House, another party building in Westminster. One MP involved in election strategy said: “We were cheated out of Government by people we paid very well, with members’ cash, to get us into office.”
The report, which has been blocked by party lawyers but viewed widely on social media, is seen as a major test of Keir Starmer’s pledge to restore unity after years of bitter faction fighting.
Named staff have been targeted with intimidating messages and death threats, according to the GMB union, which represents head office workers.
Labour’s former deputy leader Tom Watson is not referred to in the report but some MPs believe the group was plotting for him to take over.
The explosive allegations threaten to intensify an exodus of left-wing party members which began in protest at Mr Starmer’s election as leader.
He has called for an independent investigation into the claims and who was behind them. But a clash is expected at a meeting of the party’s ruling national executive this week.
Len McCluskey of Unite, which also represents staff, said: “In working for a defeat, these people were working for a Tory victory.”