“I thought he did fine but if Owen Smith is anxious, first and foremost, talk to Labour MPs and get them to support Jeremy in the chamber”.
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She called his decision to take a week-long holiday only three weeks before the European Union referendum “unforgivable” and said she had “no confidence” in Mr Corbyn after he indicated that winning elections was not his priority.
He will say a Labour administration would require firms to publish the new equality pay audits “detailing pay, grade and hours of every job … alongside data on recognised equality characteristics”.
“We need to have a strong and united Labour Party so that we can be a good opposition, take the fight to the Conservative government and heal our country”.
Mr Smith said he was embarrassed that he called 999 for a police response to a story when he was a BBC journalist, but blamed the incident on a “bullying” culture at the broadcaster.
If he becomes Labour leader, Mr Smith would target the 48 per cent of people who voted Remain in last month’s election as he tried to rebuild the party’s support.
Some 380,000 official members who joined the party before 12 January are also eligible to vote.
It emerged last night that more than 183,000 people had paid £25 to sign up as registered supporters of the Labour party and vote between Mr Smith and Mr Corbyn. “Our members won’t be fooled by a TV-savvy turncoat who lobbied for big pharma and Tony Blair”.
A YouGov Labour member poll released on Tuesday suggested that Corbyn had more support than both Smith and previous leadership runner Angela Eagle put together.
The leader’s spokesman told reporters: “Jeremy won’t be getting into personal abuse, as he never has done”.
Asked whether Mr Corbyn was concerned about his rival’s policies on the NHS, the spokesman said: “Owen Smith’s record is already becoming well-known, and his views in the past and now will obviously be part of the campaign”.
“I’m sure during this campaign there will be plenty of scrutiny of Owen and Jeremy’s political records and their positions now”. After all, a year ago he was voted in by a landslide victory.
Lawyers for the Labour leader successfully argued he had a right to be heard in the case because his interests were not the same as those of Labour’s general secretary, Iain McNicol, who had previously been the only named defendant in the case brought by a Labour donor.
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A source close to him said of this week’s surge: “It will be reasonable to assume the majority of them are supporters of Jeremy”. But at the same time he will not have the support of his members of parliament….
