Key Corbyn ally warns of ‘soft coup’ under way

Jeremy Corbyn has insisted he is “very happy” and Labour is moving forward, as a key ally warned a “soft coup” was under way against his leadership of the party.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said elements within the party, in alliance with the “Murdoch media”, were intent on “destroying” Mr Corbyn and all he stood for.

Mr Corbyn insisted the party was moving forwards under his leadership and would “learn the lessons” of the historic by-election defeat in Copeland, which saw a Labour seat snatched by the Tories.

Labour’s Gareth Snell won the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election, seeing off the challenge of Ukip leader Paul Nuttall, but the party lost Copeland, an area it had held since 1935.

Welcoming Mr Snell to Westminster, Mr Corbyn said his victory showed the people of Stoke “rejecting the politics of fear and instead voting for the politics of hope”.

Asked about Mr McDonnell’s warning of a coup, Mr Corbyn said: “I am very happy, we are going forward. Policies will be coming out, campaigns are going on.”

In an article posted on the Labour Briefing website, Mr McDonnell accused the “covert coup plotters” of doing all they could to undermine Mr Corbyn through “an exceptionally well resourced ‘dark arts’ operation of the old spin school”.

“We have to alert party members and supporters that the soft coup is under way,” he wrote.

Picture: PA. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, left, welcomes new MP Gareth Snell to Westminster.