Fractures in the party emerged even further yesterday when senior Labour rebels revealed to the Telegraph they were ready to launch a “semi-split” by electing their own leader and launching a legal challenge for the Labour name.
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“Half the time when the SNP are speaking, I listen to what Mhairi Black or others are saying and think I agree with that”, he said.
The case had been brought by Michael Foster, a former parliamentary candidate and party donor, whose counsel argued that Corbyn should be forced to sign up the required number of nominations in order to stand.
Earlier Mr Corbyn told Calendar that it was “nonsense” to blame him for divisions within the labour party.
Now a union seeking recognition must show that 10% of employees are members and 50% want them to lead on pay bargaining.
Ms Green also wrote to the chair of the Corbyn-supporting Momentum group accusing the Labour leader of refusing to take part in a Channel Four debate.
“At the end of this we’ll unite behind the leader to defeat the Tories”.
“We are getting into some fairly freakish territory here where unnamed MPs, funded from unnamed sources, are apparently trying to challenge – via the Daily Telegraph, very interesting – the very existence of this party. Anything short of this will make him the “disunity candidate”, Mr McDonnell said.
Mr Hedges said he did expect to see another Labour government if the issues of losing seats and voters are addressed.
“I believe we should reinforce our own internal party procedures in relation to this issue and I will be proposing to the general secretary of the Labour party that we designate a member of staff to focus on dealing with harassment and intimidation of women in particular”.
He said there were “some on the far left of the party who have become fatalistic about the prospect of a split”. This party was founded by courageous people, pioneers who achieved a great deal, and this party has a huge membership and under the Registration of Parties Act we are the Labour Party.
Party activists in Hull have criticised the city MPs for failing to support Mr Corbyn’s leadership, claiming the democratic will of the party is not being respected, and hundreds turned out for a rally in support of the leader following the resignations.
But Mr Corbyn says he was democratically elected “for a new kind of politics by 60% of Labour members and supporters” and that he will “not betray them” by resigning.
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The result will be announced at a special conference in Liverpool on September 24.
