Labour MPs to seek a truce as Corbyn revs up for poll victory
SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT SENIOR Labour politicians who left the shadow cabinet in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership are drawing up plans for a truce that would see them return to his team if he is re-elected next week.
Mr Corbyn was rocked by dozens of resignations from his shadow government in the aftermath of the EU referendum, in a rebellion that triggered a leadership contest.
However, with polls suggesting that Mr Corbyn is on course to win next week’s leadership election easily, a number of former shadow ministers are preparing the ground to return to work with him.
They will demand a list of assurances from Mr Corbyn as a sign of his goodwill before pledging their support. These include allowing them a greater say in the running of the shadow cabinet, giving his support to a return to shadow cabinet elections, and dropping the threat that MPs who opposed his leadership will face deselection.
One senior source among the rebels said: “There is a sense in the party as a whole that we should try to come together. But that is only going to be possible if there is a completely new arrangement and some indication from Corbyn that he really wants to cooperate.”
The planning for peace comes as Mr Corbyn and his leadership rival Owen Smith enter their final few days of campaigning. The result will be announced on Sept 24 at Labour’s annual conference, just over a year after Mr Corbyn was elected with a shock landslide following Ed Miliband’s resignation.
Polls suggest Mr Corbyn is on course Jeremy Corbyn, on his bicycle, left; stepping from a Bentley on Channel 4’s in June, above; and on the floor of a Virgin train during ‘Traingate’, below to repeat his success, with Mr Smith, the former work and pensions spokesman, lagging far behind.
Yesterday, Mr Smith warned that Labour would “disappear” as a serious party if Mr Corbyn wins again.
He said Labour would never win power under Mr Corbyn, insisting he can still win the leadership despite the popularity of his rival with the party’s grassroots.
The Pontypridd MP said he had to stand for the sake of his party’s future. “Labour is on the brink of disappearing as a serious party and that would be a disaster.”
In a frank interview, Mr Smith joked that his ability to find a girlfriend – now his wife – in a school dominated by boys suggested he had leadership qualities.
More than 60 shadow ministers quit Mr Corbyn’s team during an unprecedented revolt in the days after the EU referendum. Some 172 Labour MPs backed a motion of no confidence in his leadership – but he has refused to resign and now looks on course to win by another landslide.
Now some of those MPs who quit seem willing to return. Last week, Labour MPs voted to bring back elections to the shadow cabinet, a reform that would strip the leader of the power to appoint the Opposition’s chief spokesmen.
The rebels want Mr Corbyn to give his support to elections to shadow cabinet posts.
Their other demands, in exchange for cooperating with Mr Corbyn, are likely to include a promise from the leadership to abandon a plan to make it easier for radical or fringe MPs to stand to be party leader.
At present candidates require support from 15 per cent of MPs and MEPs in order to win a place on the national ballot for the leadership but allies of Mr Corbyn want to reduce this threshold to five per cent.
Such a move would make it easier for socialist MPs such as Mr Corbyn, or the shadow chancellor John McDonnell to get on to the ballot paper – and go on to win with the support of the party’s hard Left membership.
Mr Corbyn will also be pressed to guarantee that there will be no mandatory reselection process to punish those MPs who opposed him this summer.
An independent review of all parliamentary constituency boundaries is due to be announced this week, in a move that could see Labour lose dozens of seats. Mr Corbyn’s allies have previously suggested that the boundary review would be the perfect opportunity to get rid of rebel MPs.