Labour rebels keen to oust Jeremy Corbyn are investigating whether they would have a legal case for using the party’s name if they formed a breakaway group in parliament, and have set up a website to try to gain support of “moderate” members.
“It comes down to what would be the legalities around retaining the name ‘the Labour party’,” one MP told the Guardian, in the latest evidence that Corbyn’s detractors are ready to use every weapon in their armoury in the escalating war in the party.
As Corbyn’s spokesman urged dissident Labour MPs to trigger a leadership challenge – which they still believe he would win – the growing band of MPs who have resigned from the shadow cabinet, or refused to serve in the first place, are considering their next move.
Some believe they can pursue the solution advocated by Harold Wilson’s press secretary, Joe Haines, in a New Statesman article earlier this year, in which MPs would form their own separate grouping and claim to represent the Labour party.
A Saving Labour campaign has been set up, aimed initially at persuading moderate members of the public to email their MPs and urge them not to back Corbyn but which could ultimately be used to sign up thousands of £3 contributors who would join in order to vote for an alternative candidate.
Under the leadership election rules introduced by former leader Ed Miliband, members of the public can pay £3 to register and have a say in the party’s leadership. Corbyn’s team during last year’s leadership campaign were very effective in signing up these “three quidders”.
In other developments on Wednesday:
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The former Labour leader Ed Miliband joined the calls for Corbyn to quit, as anti-Corbyn Labour MPs were trying to work out whether to unite around Angela Eagle or Tom Watson in a leadership battle.
- The Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, held a series of meetings in Brussels to press the case for Scotland’s continued membership of the EU.
- EU leaders agreed a joint position on the Brexit vote, saying Britain should notify them of its intention to leave as soon as possible after a new prime minister was in place. They insisted the UK has no prospect of keeping access to the single market unless it continues to accept EU migration.
- The work and pensions secretary Stephen Crabb was forced to defend his previous opposition on same-sex marriage as his bid for the Tory leadership got off to a rocky start.
Meanwhile, the Labour leadership team and Momentum, the organisation of Corbyn’s grassroots supporters, are organising a series of public events in a show of support for him, including a rally in London on Wednesday evening.
Thousands of vocal Corbyn backers attended a rally in Parliament Square on Monday evening, which the leader, as well as the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, came outside to address, infuriating MPs who had earlier held a fraught meeting of the parliamentary Labour party.
Corbyn’s team are also readying themselves for a battle to ensure the leader’s name is automatically included on the ballot paper in any race, given that he would be unlikely to be able to muster the names of 50 MPs and MEPs necessary to secure a nomination.
They insist their legal advice suggests he would have to be on the list; but the final decision would be made by the party’s national executive committee.
Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, was seeking urgent talks with Corbyn in an attempt to broker a compromise that would prevent the party plunging into a snap leadership contest, as Angela Eagle prepared to launch a challenge by the end of the day.
Sources close to Watson – who as Corbyn’s deputy would become caretaker leader if he chooses to resign – said: “Everyone needs to calm down and try and prevent a civil war in the Labour party. We should not rush into a leadership contest that would be irreversible.”
