Watson warns Corbyn over shadow team
Deputy says forming frontbench would be a struggle
JEREMY Corbyn has been warned that he is unlikely to be able to form a frontbench team at Westminster if he wins another leadership battle given the scale of opposition from his own MPs.
The warning came from the Labour leader’s deputy Tom Watson as internal hustings took place with Mr Corbyn vying for the top job against Angela Eagle, the former business secretary, and Owen Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, as they made their pitches to MPs and peers in the Commons.
Colleagues are hoping that when the result of how much support each candidate has received is announced on Wednesday evening, either Ms Eagle or Mr Smith will stand aside to allow a “unity candidate” to challenge Mr Corbyn in a vote of the membership, now thought to total around 500,000.
Mr Watson, who has repeatedly called on his leader to stand aside, queried whether Mr Corbyn would have enough supportive colleagues to form a full Opposition frontbench if he won the leadership contest again given 80 per cent of Labour MPs expressed no confidence in him.
“Right now, he can’t do that,” he said. “I don’t know whether arrangements can be made, if he does win, for that to happen. It is unlikely.”
The Midlands MP said he doubted Labour would split if Mr Corbyn wins again. “People have only to look at recent history to see how unrewarding that is for the working people we are trying to represent. It is more likely you will have a very unhappy Labour Party rather than a split Labour Party.”
Stressing how he would not resign as deputy leader if Mr Corbyn were re-elected leader, Mr Watson said: “I don’t want to try and hide how difficult it is going to be if Jeremy is re-elected. I can’t be certain we will be able to form a front bench again if he does win but I’ll do my best to sort that out.”
In the Commons, while Owen Smith has said he would stand aside if he got fewer nominations than Ms Eagle, the Merseyside MP did not reciprocate. One backbencher said it would be “disastrous” if Mr Corbyn was challenged by two colleagues as this would split the opposition vote.
As Mr Corbyn set out his stall to the parliamentary Labour party it was “listened to in utter silence”, according to one backbencher.
Ms Eagle put forward proposals for a “Marshall Plan” to boost infrastructure, housing, childcare, education and jobs in working class communities; the original Marshall Plan was an aid package from the US to rebuild western European economies following the Second World War.
Backbencher Stephen Pound, who is supporting Ms Eagle, claimed Mr Smith had only promised to pull out of the contest because he knew he had a higher number of supporters than his colleague.
“Angela aced it,” declared Mr Pound. “She came up with this brilliant line. She said: ‘I didn’t have to learn my politics, I lived my politics,’ and that was the real difference. She comes from a genuine, authentic working class background.”
Mr Pound admitted Mr Smith, who represents Pontypridd, was “impressive” but noted he came from an “incredibly wealthy middle class background” and that the party needed to reach out further.
As for Mr Corbyn, the London MP claimed the party leader had failed to set out how he would reunite the party, saying: “It was very much ‘I’m here, come to me’, not ‘me come to you’.”
Asked if she would stand aside if she had the fewest nominations, Ms Eagle was said to have told the PLP the “person with the fewest nominations will be Jeremy”.
‘‘ She came up with this brilliant line. She said: ‘I didn’t have to learn my politics, I lived my politics’