The spat came as Mr Smith took his battle to topple Mr Corbyn into “enemy territory” with a campaign push in Liverpool.
Advertisement
Mr Smith, appearing alone on the programme, said he is attempting to win over Tory, Lib Dem and Green voters.
However, he accepted he was a much different Labour leader to those who had gone before him, including Tony Blair.
But he added: “2010 and 2015 – we lost those elections because of the continuation of the Blair/Brown/Milliband centre of the party”.
The debate has pitted grassroots activists loyal to left-winger Corbyn against most of the party’s lawmakers, who say he lacks the public appeal to win an election.
A Wearside says she quit embattled Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet over fears the party is sliding into “political irrelevance” under his command.
A major fear of the right wing is that if they carry out a formal split now ahead of the September result they could lose any right to be called the “Labour Party” and to secure its assets.
Mr Corbyn had been preceded on stage by speeches from some Liverpool Labour councillors and was then introduced by Walton MP Steve Rotheram who joked that he has tried to get Mr Corbyn to “button his shirt and straighten his tie” and praised the leader’s integrity.
Both of them have now expressed reservations about Corbyn’s leadership with Blanchflower walking away from the advisory committee in June, and Wren-Lewis being a member of the committee until meetings were suspended in June, the Guardian reported.
Corbyn, a pacifist whose dissenting colleagues have described him as a “nice” and “decent” man, has condemned the abuse and urged members and supporters to “act with calm and treat each other with respect and dignity”.
However, these plans depend above all on the fact that Corbyn, his main ally Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and their supporters, have done nothing to seriously challenge the right wing.
By the end of last year’s contest he had the support of 39 per cent of those that weighed in.
Leadership contender Smith has warned that on its current path, the party risks being “consigned to history”.
The group, which is not an official Labour affiliate, was launched past year to support Corbyn’s leadership campaign after he received enough nominations to appear on the ballot.
Advertisement
“This is a plea for unity from the party to get behind the elected leader”. I have been deeply shocked and saddened by the way a minority of my Parliamentary colleagues have treated party members on Twitter, in person and at meetings.
