“All other leadership candidates will require nominations from 20 percent of the PLP and EPLP”.
Advertisement
The dispute over whether MPs’ support would be required for Corbyn to run has intensified this week as Angela Eagle launched her bid for the leadership of the party.
However, advice backed by the prominent Unite union concluded he should automatically be included on the ballot as a sitting leader.
In a post on Facebook following the attack on her Wallasey office on Monday evening, Ms Eagle said the safety of her staff was paramount as supporters of Mr Corbyn stepped up their abuse. I welcome the contest ahead. “And I am determined to win it”.
“But if there is yet to be a leadership contest, let it be conducted in a comradely manner and we at the TSSA look forward to supporting Jeremy continue to develop and expose his positive programme for the next Labour government”.
Angela Eagle’s office was targeted by a brick overnight and the politician was forced to cancel an appearance amid safety concerns.
“It’s Labour party history that people have been able to challenge the leader and there was a contest with [Neil] Kinnock and there’s a contest now, and that’s fair and right”.
That excludes more than 100,000 who have joined since last month’s European Union referendum, including many Corbyn supporters.
The BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg said it was highly likely that the Labour Party itself would challenge the decision in the courts.
Corbyn has said he will not resign, citing the overwhelming mandate he won from the party’s grassroots members when they elected him leader in September previous year.
Mr Winnick, Labour MP for Walsall North, told Commons speaker John Bercow: “Can we take the opportunity of deploring such hooliganism and thuggery, whoever commits it and whichever party is involved?”
Corbyn, who received one of the largest mandates for the leadership from Labour members and supporters in 2015, has been fighting to be on the ballot following an attempt to oust him as party leader.
Speaking today, former shadow education secretary Ms Powell – who quit her role alongside more than 60 others in protest at Mr Corbyn’s leadership – said he could be beaten regardless.
Eagle ordered Jeremy Corbyn to “get control” of his supporters after his “ritual” response to an attack on her office was savaged.
Britain’s leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, gestures as he delivers his keynote speech at the party’s annual conference in Brighton, Britain September 29, 2015.
Advertisement
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said it would be “alien to the concept of natural justice” if Mr Corbyn was blocked from defending his position.
