He said it highlighted how Mr Smith had been “appallingly advised” by MPs who urged him to challenge Mr Corbyn but didn’t support him during the campaign.
Advertisement
“I will continue to make these arguments – I am not going anywhere”, said Mr Smith, saying he was determined to make Labour “electable”.
Today is also the final full day for members, supporters and union affiliates to vote for Labour’s leader before the ballot closes at noon tomorrow.
If Watson was successful in pushing through the reforms then they would not apply until after the term of the new leader – most likely to be Corbyn – had concluded.
When asked directly if he believed Mr Corbyn could be elected prime minister, he replied: “I think Jeremy could easily be a Labour prime minister”.
“There’s something unusual going on where on the one hand Jeremy says, with all sincerity, that he wants to see greater unity in the party but the people around him seem to be going out of their way to say and do things that will cause greater disunity”, she said.
The Labour leader aims to enable the party’s 600,000-strong membership to elect some of the shadow cabinet in Westminster and give activists a direct say in policy.
The September meeting, ahead of Labour’s conference in Liverpool starting this weekend, could be just as significant in the battle for control in the party.
It was reported earlier on Tuesday that Mr Corbyn was attempting to defer any decision until after the conference, at which he is widely expected to be confirmed in his position when the result of the leadership election is announced.
Shadow cabinet minister Jon Ashworth said he wanted to find a way of bringing the party back together so it can “take on the Tories”.
He added: “Whether they’re going to love me at the end of it?”
Speculation has been mounting that several MPs, many of whom resigned from the shadow cabinet after the European Union (EU) referendum and who backed a vote of no confidence in the leader by 172-40, may be ready to return to Mr Corbyn’s team.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, who was in London for the meeting, is understood to be pushing for the changes.
Speaking this week, Mr Antoniw said: “I do not subscribe to the view that the only way Labour can win a United Kingdom general election is to change its leader”. I regret the state we are in but I don’t regret being the one to say it.
“We have got to put the band back together”, he declared, insisting his plans would unite the party ready for the possibility of a snap general election.
“They’re the people who appear on the Today programme to talk about our policies to the nation, and we’ve got to bring people back in”.
Co-op party rules mean that new joiners are unable to stand for election until at least three months after joining – meaning members of the campaign would have had to become part of the Co-op in August to be elected at the local AGM in November.
Mr Corbyn told MPs they had nothing to fear because he has a “big heart” and is “very friendly” as he continued his efforts to hold an olive branch out to his critics.
He said: “Alan hasn’t fully understood what my concerns were in the past”.
Advertisement
“I think there’s been a shift in politics”. I didn’t indulge in that language that many have used against me, and I never will. “If we win, no matter what, his mandate is still in place”.
