LABOUR high command has sought to allay fears that a cull of moderate MPs is on the cards as a new poll put the party eight points clear of the Conservatives; 46 to 38.
Since the General Election and Labour’s better than predicted performance, suggestions have been made that Jeremy Corbyn will use his enhanced powerbase to begin to weed out critical MPs.
Reports have suggested that leftwing activists loyal to the party leader have drawn up a “deselection hit-list” of 49 MPs, including Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie and Jess Phillips. But Momentum has dismissed the claims as "laughable," saying they did not reflect the group's policy.
One MP on the so-called hit-list is Luciana Berger, the Liverpool MP, who last year was among a wave of frontbenchers who quit in protest at Mr Corbyn’s leadership. The backbencher, who is on maternity leave, has been told by hard Left activists to apologise to the leader and “get on board quite quickly”.
Chris Williamson, a shadow minister who is a strong ally of the leader, said: “No MP should be guaranteed a job for life and it’s crucial that we all get with the times.”
He accepted that Labour was a broad church but noted how there was a “large bulk of MPs who represent one relatively small tendency in the congregation”.
Mr Williamson added: “Where critics of mandatory reselection are mistaken are in trying to view the Corbyn phenomenon through the lens of the 1970s and 80s, when the militant Left was small and ideologically driven. Today, the bulk of Labour’s new members don’t see the new politics as Left or Right; they see it as a matter of right or wrong.”
But Ian Lavery, the Labour chairman, who recently said his party was “too broad a church,” said: “I don’t see deselection as the way forward.
“The existing trigger ballot system is the way forward. Constituencies have the right to select their candidate and that’s the current system. I don’t see any need to drastically change the rules.”
This week, a senior source close to the Labour leader said Mr Corbyn’s aim was to democratise the party.
“There's no doubt there will be changes to the way the Labour party operates to take account of the fact that we've now got upwards of 550,000 members. We want to see a much more engaged, proactive and democratic organisation going into the future,” he explained.
The source added: “When it comes to particular reforms, Jeremy hasn't taken a position on them but he wants to see a wider democratisation of the party.”
Nonetheless, major changes to the party rulebook are expected to be put to a conference vote this autumn, offering more seats on the ruling National Executive Committee to constituency Labour party branches.
In addition, another vote is due on changes to the leadership rules that would allow grassroots members and trade unions to put forward a left-winger’s name on the ballot paper; this would abolish the effective veto held by Labour MPs.
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