Now even Corbyn’s son splits with him on ‘Stalinist’ clique
JEREMY CORBYN is at war with his own son over the ‘Stalinist’ clique around the Labour leader, senior party sources have claimed to The Mail on Sunday.
Seb Corbyn, 27, who works for Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, is said to have told his father that the tiny Left-wing clique dubbed the ‘4Ms’, led by strategy boss Seumas Milne, have ‘too much power’ in the operation.
Corbyn’s Praetorian guard, who also include chief of staff Karie Murphy, union baron Len McCluskey and adviser Andrew Murray, a former Communist Party member, have been blamed for the bitter infighting in the party over Brexit policy and the anti-Semitism scandal.
Last night relations at the top of Labour hit a new low after Unite boss McCluskey launched a foulmouthed tirade at Deputy Leader Tom Watson.
He told the Durham Miners’ Gala: ‘I have a simple message for Tom Watson – you should f***ing be ashamed of yourself’.
Mr McDonnell, who after a long battle has successfully forced Mr Corbyn to agree to hold a second EU referendum if he wins power, has been accused by allies of Mr Watson of plotting to oust Mr Corbyn this autumn and install a new leader in case the next Conservative leader calls a snap General Election.
The 4Ms have been accused of ‘manipulating and controlling’ Mr Corbyn ‘like a puppet’.
A source said: ‘As a member of McDonnell’s team, Seb Corbyn has been in the thick of all the fighting, and has seen first-hand how bad Milne and the rest of them have been for his father.’
It comes as Labour announced that it was making a ‘full complaint’ to the BBC about last week’s Panorama programme which made a series of incendiary claims about anti-Semitism in the party and accused the aides of interfering in Labour’s complaints procedures over the issue.
A spokesman described it as ‘heavily slanted and inaccurate’ with ‘no political balance of interviewees, invented quotes and edited emails to change the meaning’, adding: ‘Labour will call for the programme to be removed from BBC iPlayer until basic facts are corrected, full and unedited quotes are used, and an apology is issued.
‘Despite a record of public hostility to Jeremy Corbyn and his politics from presenter John Ware and several of those interviewed, analysis found that in the 59-minute programme, the party’s position was on screen for just five minutes and one second.
‘The programme completely failed to interview balancing voices who could provide a fuller and less biased and overtly politically one-sided view on this important issue.’
The programme has helped to stoke civil war in the party, with leading figures in the Shadow Cabinet calling on Mr Watson to resign after he publicly confronted Jennie Formby, Labour’s General Secretary, demanding to know how the party was working to tackle the problem. Friends of Mr Watson hit back by accusing the party leadership of ‘diversionary tactics’ and insisting that he would not be silenced.
Diane Abbott, the Shadow Home Secretary, shared a Twitter post that had called on Mr Watson to ‘consider your position’.
The message, posted by Claudia Webbe, who chairs Labour’s disputes panel, accused Mr Watson of attacking Ms Formby despite knowing she is ‘receiving chemotherapy treatment for cancer’.
A party spokesman denied that Seb Corbyn had clashed with his father over Mr Milne and other aides.