Eagle insisted on Sunday that she is challenging Corbyn for the Labour leadership in order to save the party.
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Swansea Councillor Nick Davies, a member of Welsh Labour Grassroots, which organised Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign in Wales said: “The members, who are volunteers who give up their time to put MPs into parliament and who see the effects of austerity policies in their communities, won’t let their democratic choice of a new kind of politics be denied by members of Labour’s Westminster elite”.
The former shadow business secretary said she could make Labour electable again after the “howl of pain” expressed in the Brexit vote. An incoming Tory leader is likely to seek a new mandate and so time is not on our side to get ourselves in order, but it is also clear that Jeremy’s politics don’t resonate with almost enough voters and even fewer see him as a Prime Minister.
Ms Eagle, 55, said: “The Labour Party needs to be saved – I’m stepping up to the plate to say it’s about time that we did this so we can make the Labour Party relevant again and so we can contend for government”. I heard you say it.
But she warns that the party is “likely to suffer devastating losses in a general election” unless there is a change of leadership. Deputy leader Tom Watson said there was “no realistic prospect of a compromise”.
She added: “I think she’s the Empire Strikes Back candidate – she voted for Iraq, she voted for tuition fees”.
‘It’s going to be very bloody because Jeremy Corbyn wants to get back on that ballot paper, thinks he’s entitled to.
She told Today: “It’s quite clear to me from the rules that the section “any nomination” refers to potential challengers”.
But his opponents say the document’s wording means Mr Corbyn will also require the support of MPs and MEPs to stand – which, given his loss of the no confidence vote last month by Labour MPs by 172 votes to 40, means he is unlikely to be on the ballot. I’ll do whatever it takes to stop our party being destroyed.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday Politics on the subject, Eagle commented: “Anyone who aspires to lead the parliamentary party who can not get 51 members, 20% of the parliamentary party, to back them is not going to be able to do the job properly”. “When he’s on that ballot paper he will win”.
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The unions have remained loyal to the 67-year-old, with Len McCluskey, the leader of Unite, warning of a “lasting division” in the party if Corbyn is not allowed on the ballot. But he said: “We know such calls have been made, and I know people are saying ‘what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander'”.
