Corbyn rival Jarvis’s fury at ‘secret Tory talks’ claim
... as Labour ‘lynch mobs’ start targeting moderate MPs
A LABOUR MP tipped as a future party leader last night reacted with fury after he was accused by allies of Jeremy Corbyn of holding secret talks with Tory MPs about forming a new party.
Dan Jarvis was targeted after warning last week that Labour faced ‘annihilation’ if Mr Corbyn won next month’s leadership contest against Owen Smith.
Mr Jarvis’s remarks angered members of Mr Corbyn’s inner circle, who fought back by claiming that the former paratrooper was positioning himself to lead a breakaway group combining moderate Labour MPs and Left-wing ‘wet’ Tory MPs.
One Corbyn ally told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Jarvis clearly hopes he will be asked to head up some sort of Rightist faction, which is why he has been talking to Conservative wets. But he can do what he likes. We’ve got control of the party.’
Mr Jarvis emphatically denied the claims last night, saying: ‘I haven’t spoken to anyone in the Tory Party about anything. I’ve spent the summer working in the constituency and being with my family. You can draw your own conclusions about what is going on here. It is mischief making, and it is completely untrue.’
With the polls pointing to a clear victory for Mr Corbyn over Mr Smith, moderate MPs opposed to his leadership – which amounts to most of the party – have been discussing whether to serve reluctantly under Mr Corbyn or form a breakaway group.
While Mr Jarvis, 43, a Blairite who served in Helmand before entering the Commons in 2011, denies any ambition to lead a breakaway party, in recent months he has been attracting the interest of Labour donors who have become estranged from the party under Mr Corbyn.
So far this year he has received more than £80,000 from private backers, with over £35,000 being pledged to him in the past six weeks alone.
The row comes as Mr Corbyn is accused of whipping up a ‘lynch mob’ by deliberately holding rallies of Left-wing supporters in areas where moderate Labour MPs are facing the threat of deselection.
During the past week alone, Mr Corbyn has held a rally in Stoke – where the position of MP Tristram Hunt is under threat from the Momentum group of Left-wing activists – while his Shadow Chancellor ally John McDonnell addressed similar rallies in Ealing and Walthamstow.
Stella Creasy, the moderate MP for Walthamstow, is facing intense pressure from Momentum activists who want her removed. Mr McDonnell told the Ealing rally that MPs who opposed Mr Corbyn – who include local MP Stephen Pound – would face increasing pressure from activists.
A leading Labour Party moderate said: ‘There is no reason for Corbyn and McDonnell to go to out-ofthe-way places like Walthamstow or Stoke other than to help whip up lynch mobs.’