Labour leadership revolt MP returns to front bench

The Rotherham MP had said Mr Corbyn’s position was “untenable” and the party could be “doomed” as she quit in June.

LABOUR leadership hopeful Owen Smith is being urged to visit Worcester for a Q&A as part of his bid to wrestle power from Jeremy Corbyn.

The spokesman said: ‘There’s always work to be done.

Breaking with the traditional question and answer format of the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, the shadow chancellor turned to the camera and said: “Let me say this: we’ve got to stop this now”.

A survey of Labour councillors in the country’s most marginal constituencies has found overwhelming backing for Pontypridd MP Owen Smith in the leadership race.

Mr Smith dismissed Ms Champion’s move, saying: “The job of the leader of the Labour Party is to lead a united opposition at Westminster or to lead a government at Westminster”.

Labour donor Michael Foster, a former parliamentary candidate, is bringing the claim at London’s High Court against the party’s general secretary Iain McNicol, who is being sued in a representative capacity, and Mr Corbyn.

The online poll finds that among those who say they back Labour, 54% support Corbyn against just 22% who would prefer Smith.

The leader of the Labour Party was proposing to address an issue with one of his own MPs by ringing his dad.

In her statement, Ms Malhotra said: “I have discovered that members of staff working for John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn have gained unauthorised entry into my office in parliament”.

However one of Mr Corbyn’s key allies, Unite trade union boss Len McCluskey, accused critics of exaggerating the abuse which he suggested was being orchestrated by the security services to discredit the Labour leader.

He said Murphy had been checking to see if the office had been vacated by Malhotra following her resignation.

“It is a month since Seema Malhotra resigned as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, and the office is intended for the person holding that position”.

The group of female MPs, including former shadow ministers Heidi Alexander, Paula Sherriff and Kerry McCarthy, say intimidation has been carried out in Corbyn’s name.

Thirty-eight per cent thought the majority of their local members will vote for Mr Corbyn, compared to 28 per cent voting for Mr Smith, and 53 per cent thinking the majority of their local registered supporters are likely to back Corbyn.

The university’s Labour History Research Unit asked 350 councillors in the 125 seats most narrowly won and lost by Labour at the 2015 general election.

Mr Corbyn’s comments come after 44 women Labour MPs wrote to him in a letter organised by backbencher Paula Sherriff complaining at his “inadequate” response to the abuse.