Smith: One challenger must quit in battle to oust Corbyn
Leadership hopeful sees head-to-head contest as key to victory
A CONTENDER for the Labour leadership should drop out “within days” to allow for a head-to-head contest with Jeremy Corbyn, one of the two challengers for the role has proposed.
Owen Smith admitted that “it would be better” if either he or Angela Eagle, the other rebel MP to launch a leadership bid, stood aside to allow for a sole unity candidate to emerge. He indicated he would quit the race if he secured fewer nominations from the parliamentary party following a hustings tonight.
Asked whether it would be better to have a single challenger, Mr Smith, sitting alongside Ms Eagle on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, replied: “One of us standing would be better, is the honest answer... but I think the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] has got to be a grown-up organisation and come to a decision in the next couple of days about who it is.”
Ms Eagle did not repeat the pledge, saying she believed she was the better candidate to take on the veteran left winger, but refused to rule out a deal between the pair that would see one step aside.
Mr Smith, a former shadow work and pensions secretary, spoke out as he prepared to formally launch his bid to replace Mr Corbyn. He promised to rewrite Clause IV of the party’s constitution to put tackling inequality at the heart of its mission.
He repeatedly praised Mr Corbyn’s influence on the party but spoke of the need to create a “radi- cal but credible” movement, with the leadership contest triggered following a widespread rebellion among MPs.
Mr Smith, speaking later in his Pontypridd constituency, said: “We have a wider gap between the haves and have nots in this country than any of us have known in our lifetimes and it is for the Labour Party, to fight to reduce that gap.
“So I say it is time for us in words to commit ourselves by rewriting Clause IV of the Labour Party’s constitution, the beating heart of our party. I want to rewrite Clause IV to put tackling inequality right at the heart of everything that we do.”
The commitment drew immedi- ate comparisons with Tony Blair’s “Clause IV moment” – when the former prime minister controversially amended the passage to remove Labour’s historic commitment to mass nationalisation in 1995 – in a move that was seen as bringing about New Labour.
In a message to Mr Corbyn, Mr Smith claimed that although he supported an anti-austerity “slogan”, Labour is “not on the pitch” in British political debate.
He insisted “words are not enough” as he pledged to create a £200 billion “British New Deal” infrastructure investment plan and instantly reinstate the Department for Energy and Climate Change, which new Prime Minister Theresa May folded into the Business department. He also set out his plans to guarantee a Commons vote on any decision to go to war.
Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn spoke out against “unfair” party rule changes which bar members who have joined since January 12 from voting.
The move effectively blocks more than 100,000 who have joined the party since the EU referendum unless they sign up as registered supporters for £25.
‘‘ One of us standing would be better... but the PLP has got to be a grown-up organisation and come to a decision in the next couple of days about who it is