Mr Betts said the party had to work together whoever wins the leadership contest, adding that Labour voters had told him on the doorstep they’d find it hard to support such a divided party.
Advertisement
“This would offer the Tories and a certain victory in 2020, with Labour becoming an unelectable political party”.
This morning, Smith said: “There is a risk that if Jeremy does with the contest we are back in groundhog day with Labour divided, with Jeremy unable to fulfill that most fundamental task of the leader of the Labour Party, holding together the coalition that is Labour – and it’s always been a coalition”.
“He also made the point that it might put pressure on some people who might not have wanted to return to come back”. Mr Corbyn was not at tonight’s meeting.
Until 2011, MPs in the Labour Party had cabinet elections each year while the party was in opposition but this was replaced with direct appointments by the former Labour leader, Mr Miliband.
Voting will take place between 10am and 5pm but the result is not binding and needs agreement from Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, backed by the party’s conference, to be introduced.
The Mirror reported last month how Mr Corbyn was told big hitters will not return to his frontbench team unless the elections are reinstated.
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.
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.
Some polls have predicted that Mr Corbyn is heading for a larger margin of victory in the leadership contest than his original triumph a year ago, when he secured almost 60 per cent of first-choice votes. “It increases the power of patronage, it reduces the accountability of the leader to Labour MPs”.
Advertisement
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn suggested the party could consider giving members a vote on the make-up of the shadow cabinet.
