Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has defended his team over the release of the names of MPs claimed to have abused him and his allies.
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“Although it reproduced publicly available information, the template that was used, borrowed from one issued by Owen Smith’s campaign last week, did not reflect Jeremy Corbyn’s rejection of negative campaigning, which is why the campaign has apologised”, said a spokesperson for Jeremy for Labour.
The BBC understands Mr Woodcock is one of the MPs to make a formal complaint to the party’s chief whip and its general secretary.
He said: “We’ll be meeting with all our MPs on numerous issues of concern, of course we will”.
A number of other high-profile politicians may have to fight to keep their place in the Commons, including Education Secretary Justine Greening, former chancellor George Osborne and Labour leadership contender Owen Smith, whose Pontypridd seat would be merged with neighbouring Cynon Valley. “That is deeply divisive and frankly, it’s where you began the contest by talking about de-selection”.
Some of those named are annoyed that Tom Watson, the deputy leader, received an apology from an aide to Corbyn for being included on the list when the others did not.
He tweeted: “Desperate, trial by troll, victim-culture claims from an anonymous source backing Corbyn this eve”.
Meanwhile, illustrating the double standards of party elites, the list includes Jess Phillips MP, who told Corbyn ally Diane Abbott MP to “f*ck off”, without any response from Labour HQ.
There are five days left to “save the Labour Party” from Jeremy Corbyn, the MP challenging him for the Labour leadership has said.
The list emerged hours before the final Labour leadership hustings between Smith and Corbyn. “And those of us who don’t think of ourselves as either Blairites or Corbynites – which is most of us – are welcome in this party too”, Mr Smith told activists in London.
“None of the MPs they’re targeting has ever talked about splitting the party”.
Watson was highlighted for calling the grassroots Corbyn campaign Momentum a “rabble”.
The Labour leader and John McDonnell today took questions on the matter after a speech on the economy and public services (awkwardly trailed as “pubic services” in a press release), and both insisted they were trying to heal the party.
But the leader’s team said it was Mr Smith’s campaign that seems to have been created to “deepen divisions” in Labour.
Mr Reed also said he planned to speak with constituents in Broad Green and Norbury to dicuss how the changes would affect them.
Mr Corbyn, favourite to be re-elected leader when the result is announced on September 24, said he was proud that Labour’s membership had grown to half a million, with 300,000 joining since he was elected leader a year ago.
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Mr Smith said: “I suspect you don’t know what percentage of seats we need to formulate a good Labour government”.
