...as former Minister says Blair plotted to have him thrown out back in 2004
LABOUR would have been spared the ‘nightmare’ of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership if Tony Blair had gone through with plans in 2004 to kick him out of the party, a former Minister disclosed last night.
Phil Woolas revealed how a plot was hatched to withdraw the whip from Mr Corbyn and other troublesome Left-wingers.
The plan involved subjecting them to ‘show trials’ to force them to pledge their loyalty to Mr Blair or be barred from standing as Labour candidates at the next Election.
Mr Woolas, then Deputy Leader of the Commons, revealed that he was given the task of briefing the Press that Labour Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong was championing a plan to discipline Mr Corbyn and five other Labour MPs for persistently rebelling against their own Government.
The story duly appeared in The Daily Telegraph under the headline: ‘Show trials’ to axe MPs disloyal to Blair.
But Mr Woolas, the former MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said the plan was quickly abandoned.
‘I think that one year out from the 2005 Election, Tony Blair changed his mind and decided it was better to have these idiots repeatedly voting against him to show that the Labour Party he led was responsible and sensible – not run by some demented Lefties,’ he said.
‘That said, if he had gone through with the plan, it would have saved the party from the nightmare of the last five years with Corbyn.’
Three years ago, Ms Armstrong, who is now a Labour peer, revealed that Mr Blair stepped in to prevent Mr Corbyn being deselected by his local Islington North constituency party because of his repeated rebellions.
She told BBC Radio 4 how the then Prime Minister decided he could tolerate Mr Corbyn’s dissent.
Mr Blair and Baroness Armstrong were approached for comment last night.