“Jeremy Corbyn has a proper moral attitude”.
Advertisement
The MP for Pontypridd told more than 50 members in the building’s council chamber that he fears for the future of Labour should Mr Corbyn stay on as leader and also slammed the Conservative Government for “leading the country out of the EU” and “jeopardising” investment in North East firms such as the Nissan auto plant in Sunderland. Mr Corbyn was not present at the meeting.
Mr Smith said his first act as leader would be to create a full shadow cabinet – something Mr Corbyn has struggled to do following a wave of resignations.
Robbie Young, the LGBT officer of the National Union of Students, who was also present, tweeted that a speaker supporting Corbyn said “that antisemitism in the party is a factional lie”.
Many union leaders now support Corbyn, who always backed them.
Seemingly, Smith wants to make a personal plea to Corbyn supporters, who have been slanderously branded as menacing Trotskyists, bigots, thugs, bullies, and jihadists by the very factions backing him as a leadership challenger. I won’t do what Jeremy Corbyn did and won’t vote against this party, my party, 500 times.
A total of 20,190 members took part in an online consultation, with two questions asked: “Would you like the Labour Link committee to nominate a candidate in the forthcoming Labour Leadership election?” and “If the Unison Labour Link committee decides to nominate a candidate, do you have a preference on which candidate they should nominate?”
Referring to the criteria for voting, Mr Sheldon said the NEC “defines the precise eligibility criteria, meaning it fixes the eligibility criteria, it sets the boundaries, it sets the limits for the eligibility criteria”.
“My comments in the Guardian were amplifying what we both know to be true; that there has been an increase in members of proscribed organisations attempting to join the party, in particular members of the Socialist Party (formerly Militant) and the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty (formerly Socialist Organiser)”.
The debate began with a clash on Europe and the European Union referendum, with Mr Smith accusing Mr Corbyn of poor leadership during the referendum campaign.
The Committee chose to appeal after losing its case in the High Court on Monday, a move criticised by Corbyn who is expected to be the preferred candidate among new members. “It is a distinct possibility that ballot papers will be issued on 22 August, just days after the right to vote is confirmed to a large element of the membership”.
The result was much closer, but still came out 57% in favour of the current leader.
“I will back whoever wins”, he added.
The decision will be announced at 3pm today.
Advertisement
He said his aim was to give judgment at 3pm.
