Corbyn offers ‘hand of friendship’ to his MPs

Yesterday, 44 female Labour MPs wrote to Mr Corbyn, calling for him to do more to combat abuse and threats made against women within the party.

He risked enraging rebels as he warned MPs may face reselection ahead of the next election due to an upcoming boundary review.

The Independent reported earlier this year how a number of high-profile Labour MPs who want Corbyn replaced face losing their seats in a “bloodbath” re-selection process – including the former shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn and former business secretary Chuka Umunna.

He said sitting MPs would “have the opportunity to put their name forward”.

But the Labour leader, who denies the allegation, said, “I don’t do any abuse, I don’t do any bullying and I don’t allow it to be done”.

In a letter accepting the nomination to stand in the leadership contest, Mr Smith said Labour is “letting the public down and undermining the democratic process” because of the inability to function effectively in Parliament. I have had threats too and I am telling him “it has got to be stamped out and we have to have zero tolerance” of this in the Labour Party. “I hope anyone who describes themselves as a Christian within the party cannot engage in that [abusive language] and can always be people that are trying to bring people together, whether that is between political parties or certainly within political parties”.

Mr Corbyn indicated that he would not hold grudges against critics in the Parliamentary Labour Party who have sought to oust him, saying: “I have an ability to very conveniently forget some of the unpleasant things that are said, because it’s not worth it”.

“We are going to be in lock-step together arguing for an effective, united Labour Party doing its job”.

“I think he has contributed to this”.

Mr Smith told Sky News this morning he’d never been bullied by Mr Corbyn, but feared that under his leadership there is a culture of bullying within the party. He dismissed polls showing Labour trailing far behind the Conservatives, predicting that they would change after the leadership election was over.

In his campaign launch Corbyn promised to tackle the “five ills of 21st century Britain”: inequality, neglect, prejudice, insecurity and discrimination.

But Reynolds said Smith has more chance of becoming Prime Minister and so had his support.

“The injustices that scar society today are not those of 1945. want, squalor, idleness, disease and ignorance”, he said.

“I hope they will recognise that and come on board”. “The workplace fairer … reducing the discrimination that holds people back”.

He opened his comments by recounting the Labour’s electoral achievements in local elections, by-elections and mayoral elections, and said his campaign would not only set out how Labour can confront social ills in opposition, but also spell out ‘some of the measures the next Labour government will take to overcome them’.