Corbynistas fear Sir Keir Starmer will ‘lock us out for good’ in fresh round of infighting
Corbynistas fear Sir Keir Starmer will ‘lock us out for good’ in fresh round of infighting sparked by the Batley by-election victory
- Critics fear Keir will change rules to prevent a ‘real’ socialist being elected leader
- They worry the Labour leader will seek to scrap the ‘one person, one vote’ rule
- Party could use the system where MPs, trade unions, members have third of vote
Labour descended into a new round of bitter infighting last night amid claims that Sir Keir Starmer will use his party’s surprise by-election victory in Batley to ‘lock out’ the Left.
Critics fear Sir Keir will now press ahead with plans to change the party leadership rules to discourage a challenge and prevent a ‘real’ socialist like Jeremy Corbyn ever being elected again.
They say he will now seek to ‘lock us out for good’ by getting the party conference this autumn to return to old rules, giving MPs more say in choosing who leads the party.
Labour descended into a new round of bitter infighting last night amid claims that Sir Keir Starmer (pictured with new MP Kim Leadbeater) will use his party’s surprise by-election victory in Batley & Spen to ‘lock out’ the Left
Sir Keir has hailed the party’s surprise victory in Batley & Spen last week – by just 323 votes – as a ‘fantastic’ new beginning.
But one Shadow Cabinet Minister said that the leader had survived a ‘near-death experience’ given that the result had been seen as make-or-break for his leadership.
Left-wingers claimed last night that the leader will push ahead with trying to scrap the ‘one-person, one-vote’ system of party members electing the leader – which gave rise to Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in 2015 – and return to an old electoral college system in which MPs, trade unions and party members each have one-third of the votes.
The move will partly depend on whether the Unite union elects moderate Gerard Coyne as general secretary next month to replace Starmer critic Len McCluskey.
One Left-wing MP said: ‘If that happens, we all expect Keir to try to ram this change through conference this autumn.
‘It doesn’t make it impossible for a Corbyn Mark Two to win the party leadership again, but it would make it very, very difficult.’
Critics fear plans to change the party leadership rules will prevent a ‘real’ socialist like Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in October 2020) ever being elected again
There are also reports that the party leader could take revenge on his deputy, Angela Rayner, for alleged disloyalty amid claims that Sir Keir had to curb what allies called the ‘Angy-bargy’ problem, with one suggestion that he could cut her staffing budget.
But a spokesman for the leader said last night: ‘Keir and Angela are working closely and entirely in step.’
