Mr Mann controversially claimed most Labour members were concerned only with party politics, since they were “people who do not personally experience poverty”.
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Writing in i, the former shadow minister Chuka Umunna said that levels of “abuse, intimidation and vitriol” within Labour ranks were the worse he had known in almost 20 years of involvement with the party. “It will mean for every individual MP, their vote will mean 3,000 or 4,000 of ours”.
It is the latest salvo in the run-up to the result of the leadership election, which is expected to see Jeremy Corbyn re-elected by a strong majority.
He spent much of the last full day of campaigning locked in a national executive committee (NEC) meeting, which failed to reach consensus on how to appoint the party’s shadow cabinet after nearly nine hours of talks.
Coinciding with Mr Miliband’s onslaught on his foreign policy, Mr Corbyn has called for the appointment of a “minister for peace” and a “minister for disarmament”.
But one person not looking forward to a continuation of Mr Corbyn as leader is Prof Chapman, who was married to him from 1974 to 1979.
Tellingly, Mr Watson used a meeting of the party’s NEC yesterday to call for changes to Labour’s leadership rules for future elections, whereby registered supporters who pay a one-off fee to vote would be excluded.
“I just think colleagues are in a better position to judge who makes a better member of the shadow cabinet team, because they watch everybody’s performance in the House so closely”.
“He’s younger and I think he’s more media savvy and I think he’s more flexible about the way he would conduct the leadership, with a bigger emphasis on winning the election”, she said.
In an article for PoliticsHome, Mr Mann also lamented that many Labour members are “economically comfortable” with a Conservative government in power.
They also offered their backing to the general secretary, Iain McNicol, who has faced reports that Corbyn’s team were preparing to try to remove him.
The video, “Five questions Corbyn supporters are exhausted of hearing”, was removed Wednesday night from YouTube, though it remains on Corbyn’s personal Facebook page in the videos section and not on the news feed.
“It’s about uniting the party, this is what we all want to do come Saturday, regardless of the result”.
“We have had conversations with a not insignificant number of the parliamentary party and some of the names would surprise you”, said a spokesperson from Mr Corbyn’s office.
Mr Corbyn and rival candidate Owen Smith learn on Saturday September 24 who has won Labour’s bad-tempered leadership contest.
Despite complaints from the British Board of Deputies, which represents many UK Jews, the film was still available for viewing on Mr Corbyn’s Facebook page on Thursday.
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In an open letter, the MP for Pontypridd wrote: “Our party is at a crossroads, and the choice we face is between renewing our party to pursue unity and power, or satisfying ourselves with ongoing division and opposition”.
