Jeremy Corbyn has secured a victory over rebels in his party by ensuring that his name is automatically on the ballot paper for a leadership contest to be held this summer.
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But the ruling will come as a major blow to the majority of Labour’s MPs who are desperate to overthrow the party leader.
Furious protestors rounded on a bearded man closely resembling the embattled Labour leader as he left the building which houses the party’s headquarters this evening.
In a boost for the…
But he has refused to resign, noting he was elected on a strong mandate by party members only last September.
Solicitor Martin Howe said: “Our clients are very concerned that the goal of the special meeting is to manufacture a situation whereby Jeremy Corbyn’s name will be omitted from the leadership ballot”.
And shadow secretary of state for defence Clive Lewis said the rules showed “quite clearly he should have been on the ballot” and said he would be supporting Mr Corbyn.
All other candidates will have to attain the required number of nominations in order to go forward to the ballot, the statement continued.
A Labour spokesman said: “The timetable for the contest for the leader of the Labour Party has been agreed by the NEC and will commence on Thursday”.
The NEC ruling could still trigger a legal challenge from opponents who insist Mr Corbyn should have to garner support from 51 Labour MPs, like other candidates, but Mr Corbyn played down such a possibility.
He told them he was “delighted” by what happened and supporters began chanting “Jeremy!”
But she said: “I’m glad Labour’s NEC has come to a decision”.
Sky’s Chief Political Correspondent Jon Craig said: “I haven’t seen Mr Corbyn look this cheerful for a few weeks”.
However, he remains overwhelmingly popular with Labour members who will vote in the actual contest, making him favourite to win for the second time.
He warned that in the coming leadership election, “any attempts to keep Jeremy Corbyn off the ballot paper risks a lasting division in the party”. “And I am determined to win it”, she said on Twitter. “At the moment there is a huge, huge vacuum on the centre left of British politics which needs to be filled, and the Labour Party can’t do it”. “Democracy prevails. We will use leadership election to sign up even more members and prepare ground for general election”.
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Passions are running high in the party, and a brick was thrown through the window of Eagle’s constituency office. Corbyn recently lost a no-confidence ballot among his lawmakers by 172 votes to 40, suggesting he may struggle to gather the nominations.
