The resignation of Labour’s longest-serving MP over concerns about anti-Semitismmust lead to a "rethink of the Corbyn project” or the party risks “decline and irrelevance”, Lord David Blunkett has warned.
The former home secretary spoke two days after Frank Fieldwithdrew from the party whip.
He said the "bullying and thuggery" of the militant left – which he said made the party unelectable during the Eighties – had now returned and posed a “dangerous" threat to both the Labour movement and democracy.
And he labelled the ongoing anti-Semitism scandal a “shambles".
"Quite simply, Labour has to put its own house in order as decisively and speedily as possible,” he wrote in an article for The Daily Telegraph.
The intervention came as three more MPs were reported to be considering leaving Labour over Jeremy Corbyn's links to extremists and comments which have been condemned as anti-Semitic by Jewish leaders.
Lord Blunkett said: "Frank Field’s decision, and his concerns over both anti-Semitism and the behaviour of party members indicate a deeper malaise. His actions need to be seen as a catalyst for seismic change and a rethink of the so-called ‘Corbyn project’.
"The commitment to Labour as a 'broad church', which motivated some of those who nominated Jeremy, has been thrown back in their faces and demonstrated that the so-called ‘new style of politics’ is anything but.
"Quite simply, Labour has to put its own house in order as decisively and speedily as possible.
"What matters for the health of our democracy and the continuity of the existence of the Labour party, of which I have been a member for 55 years, are the actions taken and the quality of leadership from Jeremy Corbyn and his colleagues over the next seven days.
"Either Jeremy Corbyn can lead a party into gradual decline and irrelevance, or demonstrate that he can lead a party fit for government. The choice is his."
In his resignation letter on Thursday, Mr Field – MP for Birkenhead for 39 years – said that he was prepared to rejoin the party if its leader showed he was prepared to tackle the rise of "thuggery".
However, an official response suggested there would be no come back: he was told to quit the party if he insisted on resigning the whip.
