Jeremy Corbyn defends list which named and shamed ‘abusive’ Labour MPs

JEREMY Corbyn was accused of sowing the seeds of division within Labour by his rival Owen Smith after the party leader’s campaign team published what the Welsh MP described as a deselection list of critics.

“The documentary will allow Sky News viewers to really understand what issues the party is dealing with as political turmoil engulfs it”, said Esme Wren, Head of Politics at Sky News.

The list emerged hours before the final Labour leadership hustings between Smith and Corbyn.

Mr Smith accused Mr Corbyn of being “deeply divisive”.

During Wednesday night’s Labour leadership debate at Sky headquarters in London, Mr Corbyn defended his team for releasing the controversial list, arguing those named had made statements “on the record”.

It also comes after the disclosure of moves by left-wing activists to de-select the veteran Liverpool MP Louise Ellman and a leaked document that named and shamed Labour MPs “disloyal” to Mr Corbyn.

He tweeted: “Desperate, trial by troll, victim-culture claims from an anonymous source backing Corbyn this eve. But for Labour it’s the opposite, and will raise worries about the softness of their vote – although the party is more liked, one in four say they like the party but not the leader, including three in ten Labour supporters”.

“The reason I resigned is precisely because I don’t think you are serious about winning and I don’t think there is any prospect of us being able to address those inequalities you talked about unless we’ve got a leader of the Labour party who knows there are 106 seats we need to win”. That’s just not true. “The only person who has threatened to split the party is John McDonnell”.

The note included leading figures in the party who were name-checked over their alleged behaviour since Jeremy Corbyn took the party’s top job.

Mr Blenkinsop referred one Labour Party member who he claimed had abused him on Twitter to the police in June and that party member was suspended. “Shabby and deliberately targets colleagues for more abuse”.

Some of those organising Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign to win the ongoing Labour leadership election were reportedly upset that the list had been given to journalists.

And he said MPs on the list would see it as a signal that they should be deselected, which would mean they could not stand again for Labour at the next general election.

The leadership contest will conclude on Saturday, September 24.

The political make-up of the borough’s two other seats are set to remain largely the same, as the changes pose little threat to Mr Reed’s Labour majority in Croydon North or Conservative Chris Philp in Croydon South.

Coyle has said he will be speaking to his lawyers about possible defamation.

Asked by PoliticsHome if he believed Momentum should be banned, Mr Smith said: “If Momentum intend to carry on as a party within a party, then that is something that everybody needs to look carefully at”.