Owen Smith MP speaks at the first Labour leadership debate at the All Nations Centre alongside Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Cardiff, Wales, August 4, 2016.
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Momentum say that party membership has more than doubled under Jeremy Corbyn, and that despite Cadbury’s fears, Labour’s electoral record under his leadership has been impressive, winning numerous by-elections with an increased share of the vote and recapturing the London mayoralty, among other victories.
But Kate Green, who chairs Mr Smith’s campaign bid, said “giving some members as little as a week between confirming their vote and ballot papers landing is not sufficient time for them to gather the information they will wish to have about the candidates before they cast their vote”.
But Mr Corbyn, who was cheered several times during the event, told him: “Since the election last summer our party has grown enormously, 300,000 new members have joined because they want to see this country governed and run in a different way”.
Mr Miliband’s comments come amid an intensifying battle for the Labour leadership and party organisation, with Mr Corbyn and deputy leader Tom Watson entering a new war of words.
“Whether people support Jeremy or Owen, they are all saying the same thing – that Labour can now win in Southport and that they want to get involved in helping us fight for every vote”.
Corbyn, who was elected a year ago, retains strong support among party members.
As reported by the Guardian, Watson sent the leader’s office a four-page document, based on publicly available information, detailing what he said was evidence that Trotskyists had been attending meetings of grassroots pro-Corbyn Momentum pressure group and seeking to influence the Labour leadership election.
He said the Autumn conference held this year in Liverpool would continue as normal even if the leadership contest is not resolved.
I think it’s probably going to be in Jeremy’s favour.
“It’s not Jeremy Corbyn who is breaking up the Labour party – it’s them”. Five Labour members challenged the decision, and on Monday a judge ruled that the party was wrong to retroactively impose a cutoff date.
CLP chairman Jane Cowling said: “Both Mr Williamson and Mr Coaker were excellent and provided a lot of food for thought”. There’s no place in the party for witch hunts against MPs, councillors and party staff.
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You described returning “Trots” to the party, Tom, as seeing the Labour Party as a “vehicle for revolutionary socialism”. “It always ends up destroying the institutions that are vulnerable, unless you deal with it”. Where are the constant media attacks by MPs about Progress being a party within a party?
