Jeremy Corbyn appeared to be tightening his grip on the Labour Party by suggesting the reintroduction of shadow cabinet elections with a members’ vote and after his allies appeared to back deselection of disloyal MPs.
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Leader Jeremy Corbyn did not respond to questions from reporters as members of his party eventually emerged from the national executive committee (NEC) meeting at 8.30pm.
He said: “There has to be a recognition of the leadership being elected by the membership as a whole and clearly the leader has a mandate coming from that election, and has put forward views, and that has to be reflected in the way Parliament operates”.
“We need to turn out in force at the Co-op Party Greenwich AGM.to ensure that it is not used by the right to further their aims”.
A party source told PoliticsHome: “There’s agreement for talks to take place between Jeremy and parliamentary Labour party representatives, and they will report back to the NEC on Saturday”. “To have an elected shadow cabinet, not an appointed shadow cabinet, is one way we do that”, he explained.
Mr Watson said the NEC would discuss the MP-only plans, as well as other proposals which would see the shadow cabinet picked by a mix of members, the leader and MPs.
But despite Smiths plea, Corbyn, who secured nearly 60% of the vote previous year, is expected to win the latest leadership election.
But the attempts at forging unity were undermined as Mr Corbyn failed to deny claims that he and his inner circle were plotting to oust Mr Watson from his elected position as deputy leader.
“We created a new category of member, a registered supporter, which is pretty unpopular in all sections and we want to remove that”.
This comes as ex-leader Neil Kinnock said Labour was unelectable under Mr Corbyn and that the leader had mistaken the enthusiasm of his backers for wider electoral appeal.
“I hope they will understand we were elected as Labour MPs, it is a huge honour and responsibility, and we have got to try and deliver for the people”.
Mr Corbyn, who is expecting a commanding win in the leadership contest next weekend, wants to bring in a democratic revolution in the party, according to the Observer. In practice, this would probably give MPs more say in future leadership elections than they have under the current system.
If Mr Corbyn wins, he said it would be “Groundhog Day” and the party would still be divided.
Although Owen Smith received more support from the audience across the debate, Corbyn fared better than might have expected and received a rapturous response when discussing the Jewish community’s role during the Battle of Cable Street.
Mr Watson said he was “open minded on both options” and the priority should be getting all Labour’s “traditions and talents” into the top team.
The former shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie and former shadow housing minister Emma Reynolds are running or understood to be seriously considering a bid to be the Labour chair of the new Brexit select committee that will mirror David Davis’s department.
Another user wrote: “Corbyn’s comments are those of a man drunk on the size of his social movement with no grasp of how to win an election”.
He added: “Whether they’re going to love me at the end of it?”
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He added: “I will serve loyally on the back benches” in the event that he loses Labour’s leadership election.
