McDonnell was speaking as Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) chose to postpone a decision on whether to grant MPs the right to elect the shadow cabinet.
Advertisement
His comments, in a BBC programme looking at the state of the Labour Party, came as Corbyn’s attempts at reconciliation with disaffected Labour MPs were overshadowed by suggestions party members could be involved in picking the shadow cabinet.
Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, has proposed giving MPs the right to choose the party’s frontbench as a way of “bringing the band back together” following a bitter leadership contest.
But Mr Corbyn is trying 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 on Saturday.
Corbyn will say that the Prime Minister could call an election as early as next spring in order to win support for her Brexit negotiation strategy.
Mr Watson said changes made under Ed Miliband to the way in which the Labour leader is elected were “very rushed” as he advocated moving away from the system of one member one vote.
Under the current one member one vote system, every member’s ballot has an equal say.
The grassroots group, formed from the bones of Mr Corbyn’s 2015 leadership campaign, has been at loggerheads with rebel MPs.
The deputy leader also had a discussion with Mr Corbyn about his position which rapidly came to the conclusion that Mr Watson could not be removed from his post.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Watson urged MPs who had resigned from the shadow cabinet at the start of the summer to rejoin but said he understood there was a “dignity issue”.
The Pontypridd MP then warned: “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”.
Labour chiefs were deadlocked last night over contentious moves to elect Shadow Cabinet members.
Aping Mr Corbyn, Mr Smith added: “It’s got nothing to do with me, my hands are clean, if Momentum want to do that.'”.
“When you’re signing up to the aims and values of the Labour Party, being against abuse and behaving in a comradely manner is implicit. Our members join the Labour Party to stand up against injustice and abuse – this pledge makes clear that this is at the heart of all of our politics and our party debates too”. I regret the state we are in but I don’t regret being the one to say it.
Jeremy Corbyn has called on Ian Austin to unite with him and “move forward” with the party under his leadership.
“But whoever wins that leadership, we have got to swing in around that leader and make sure that they are the most electable leader we have”.
While Mr Corbyn was tight-lipped after the meeting, Mr Watson told Sky News: “I’m very pleased”.
Mr Corbyn arrived at Labour’s central London headquarters without answering questions, telling reporters: “Nice to see you all, thanks for coming”.
Advertisement
For days his allies had been suggesting that he wanted the party’s 640,000-strong membership, which largely backs him, to play a role in selecting the shadow cabinet.
