“We have got to stop this now”.
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However Mr McDonnell said the office manager concerned had simply been checking whether Ms Malhotra had moved out of the office after quitting as shadow chief Treasury secretary last month in protest at Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
Asked if they would step down after a defeat, Mr McDonnell said on the Andrew Marr Show: ‘That would be inevitable, wouldn’t it?’ “I know that’s what Jeremy wants too but I’m not sure he can do that”. It is a challenge for us because the only way we can win votes is being very strategic and thoughtful, forensic and evidence-based… Seema resigned a month ago.
An aide to Ms Malhotra, who resigned from her post the day after the European Union referendum result, said: “It is very serious and unheard of for someone to access an MP’s room without their permission”.
But speaking on Sunday, McDonnell said it was an innocent mistake and his office manager shouldn’t be victimised. Members of Seema’s staff were there, she apologised and that was it. “This has obviously been an error”.
Mr Corbyn’s office dismissed the claims as “untrue” but St Helens North MP Mr McGinn accused the party leader of hypocrisy for talking about a “kinder, gentler politics” when “he had proposed using my family against me”.
The shadow Chancellor sounded emotional as he demanded “stop this now” as the Labour leadership faced questions over allegations one of their staff had made an “unauthorised” entry into the office of a former shadow Cabinet minister.
Malhotra has made a formal complaint to Commons Speaker John Bercow over the incidents as well as the behaviour of Corbyn’s aides, saying that her staff had felt “harassed, intimidated and insecure”.
“I am not, and others are not, going to stand by and see every single one of you portrayed as the striking miners were, as thugs, brick-throwers, bullies and misogynists”, he said to cheers from the packed audience at the Lowry Theatre.
Sources in the Labour leadership team have suggested that Malhotra should have vacated the room that is dedicated to a member of the shadow cabinet team.
It is believed that anyone who accesses the office of an MP without their permission first needs to be granted a search warrant.
McDonnell also said it was “inevitable” that both he and Corbyn would resign in the face of a general election loss.
“Labour’s lost Scotland, it’s down to one MP up there, England is a different set of circumstances, but I do think these times are very serious indeed”, he said. Tell us what we’ve done wrong, where we can be better. “That outrage is being organised by you – party members, trade unionists – and it is only when we come together and campaign we win”, he will tell them.
Firstly, the most obvious point is that sticking a £25 surcharge on democratic participation is a clear demonstration that the Labour Party establishment don’t want the working poor and the vulnerable to have a political voice. “They are democrats, they will respect that decision”, he said, arguing that there could be mediated negotiations to heal rifts in the party.
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Corbyn has denied such a conversation ever took place, but Conor McGinn, the opposition whip, has insisted the leader of the party said he would call his Sinn Fein-supporting father over complaints about Labour’s direction.
