Labour MPs will vote tomorrow on whether to re-introduce elections for the shadow cabinet.
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Former minister Clive Betts told the weekly PLP meeting that traditional Labour supporters were walking away from the party as a result of the civil war which has been raging all summer.
The motion proposed by Clive Betts, the Labour MP for Sheffield South East, is the first formal attempt to restore the elections.
“He also made the point that it might put pressure on some people who might not have wanted to return to come back”.
Big-hitters like Hilary Benn, Angela Eagle, Heidi Alexander and Michael Dugher are among those who have left Labour’s front bench under Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
Deputy leader Tom Watson, who is preparing a bid to overturn Labour’s “one person one vote” system, has signalled support for shadow cabinet elections.
He added: “Jeremy has a pressing duty to think hard about what we are doing because we can not mistake mass rallies that Jeremy has gathered for the mass movement we need to gather – the mass movement of 12, 13 million people we need voting Labour in order to stop this from becoming a reality”.
Pontypridd MP Mr Smith said he was ready to “look very carefully” at the reintroduction of measure, arguing that it could help create a “sense of shared ownership” of the shadow cabinet by all Labour MPs.
Mr Betts conceded at the PLP meeting that the reform “might put some pressure” on the victor of the leadership campaign but said the proposal was a “pragmatic response to the situation we find ourselves in”, according to a source.
The proposal would need to be approved by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), which is seen to have a pro-Corbyn majority, and then be confirmed by the annual conference later this month.
Today a spokesman for Mr Corbyn signalled a direct vote by Labour members could be a different solution.
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Labour risks being out of power for another 18 years if it mistakes Jeremy Corbyn’s mass rallies for popular support, Owen Smith warned today. “Any review also needs to take account of the need to represent regions and nations”.
